Tennessee Street

San Francisco, CA, USA

Architects: Fougeron Architecture

Location: San Francisco, CA, USA
Year: 2013

Located at the south-eastern most corner of the Dogpatch Historic District, the 1201 Tennessee project bridges the gap between small scale residential historic buildings to the north and large warehouse scaled buildings to the south and west. To address these two building types, 1201 Tennessee is first articulated as three separate but related buildings, each aiming to respectfully represent the significant elements of Dogpatch history: American industry, and housing for its workers. The round-ended building along 3rd street, emblematic of the silo, employs industrial shape and materialily through the use of faceted perforated metal panels. Turning the corner to the 23rd street building, the metal panel material turns on its end as a reinterpretation of the bay-window. The Tennessee street building further reduces its scale as it approaches its more residential neighbors by stepping down, stepping back, and softening the overall material palette. Further, the overall site-strategy allows for greater than required mass reductions along a generous mid-block alley, which buffers the residential neighborhood and shortens the overall block length.