The Railyards Project is a public-private partnership to re-imagine the 4th and King Railyards area with a resilient, underground station; expanded transit service; and new development, streets, and open space to connect SoMa, Showplace and Mission Bay. The Public Participation Framework for the Railyards Project consists of multi-layered strategies focused on informing and consulting a wide range of stakeholders, while building capacity for deeper community involvement over time.

The Bay to Sea Trail Study is exploring the feasibility of a 40-mile shared-use, recreational trail from San Francisco Bay, through the Peninsula and over the Santa Cruz mountains to the Pacific Ocean. If realized, the trail would cross the ancestral territory of the contemporary Ramaytush Ohlone and Muwekma Ohlone communities to connect more people to nature and open space in the Peninsula, and become the first east-west regional trail linking the Bay to the Pacific Ocean. The Public Participation Framework for the Bay to Sea trail is a collaboration tool engaging project stewards, champions, and community advisors in the development of strategies and civic partnerships that can support the Bay to Sea Trail initiative over a long-term implementation process.

Recognizing that “community is the source of culture”, San Francisco's Cultural Resources Survey (SF Survey)initiates a timely conversation around what cultural heritage encompasses, who defines it, for whom, and to what purpose. SF Survey will provide an opportunity to better reflect the dynamic cultural layers that make San Francisco unique by expanding the universe of cultural assets that inform the work of public agencies. Voices from across San Francisco's diverse cultural communities were convened to share insight and shine a light on the resources and partnerships needed to identify, document, protect, and sustain cultural heritage. These conversations center cultural heritage on social and racial equity, and outline the shared frameworks and values needed to support authentic cultural development. Guided by these findings, our team is developing a multi-year community outreach and engagement program to support and inform SF Survey findings.

We are part of a team of consultants led by HDR, tasked with community outreach and engagement for Link21, a project that will transform Northern California's passenger rail network into a faster, more integrated system. Our team brings to this project a research-based approach to community engagement, and experience testing new frameworks for equitable representation and outcomes in the built environment.

San Francisco's housing crisis is a complex problem grounded in economic, racial, and social inequities. Discriminatory policies and programs have resulted in severely disparate outcomes for American Indian, Black, and other Communities of Color, further exacerbated by the pandemic. The Housing Element 2022 Update will be San Francisco’s first housing plan centered on racial and social equity and (potentially) the first document in the City to recognize housing as a right. Our team co-created and guided a community engagement pilot designed to elevate the voices of those residents most affected by housing inequities. The central strategy consisted of twenty-two focus groups, designed and facilitated with community-based partner organizations. Key questions explored the reparation of harms from discrimination in housing, and alternatives for new housing to be built in San Francisco. These in-depth conversations invited participants to shape draft policies based on lived experiences, and reflect on the values binding past, present, and future San Franciscans.

Adapting to a changing climate will require the integration of a watershed-lens to City planning. The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission is working with leaders from multiple City agencies, and community partners, to deliver both long-term flood resilience and quality-of-life benefits to San Franciscans in the Upper Islais Creek Watershed. Our team is supporting urban design and community engagement efforts, seeking solutions centered on the priorities of residents most vulnerable to flooding.

SFPUC's Green Infrastructure Grant Program encourages San Francisco property owners to design, build, and maintain performance-based green infrastructure projects. Grant-funded projects complement the Sewer System Improvement Program with a distributive approach to infrastructure planning, and set a new benchmark for publicly funded projects and partnerships. Working within an environmental justice framework, grant projects support groundwater recharge, water reuse, biodiversity, education and job training opportunities. As part of SFPUC's technical assessment team we provide guidance to potential applicants and review grant applications.
SFPUC is also partnering with San Francisco's Unified School District to integrate multi-benefit green infrastructure projects in schoolyards. Our team provides strategic planning services and supports early feasibility studies.

SFPUC’s Bay Corridor Transmission Distribution project will construct a flexible backbone distribution system to supply clean energy to existing and future SFPUC customers in San Francisco. This project includes the first electrical sub-station built by the Power Enterprise in the City. While responding to strict operational, security, and fire safety requirements, the articulation of outdoor equipment, fire and perimeter walls deliver a dynamic composition and engaging urban experience.

The Orange Memorial Park Stormwater Capture Project helps clean water flowing from our cities to the Bay by diverting all dry-weather flow and the first flush of stormwater runoff from Colma Creek into an underground system integrated within the park. Overall 15 percent of the annual flow in Colma Creek passes through the system for treatment and beneficial use. Our team developed illustrations for the Park's educational signage and website.
Project page on South San Francisco website

Climate change and sea level rise bring San Francisco's shoreline into focus, and with this the opportunity to restore the waterfront's role as the City's backbone. Re-imagined public infrastructure for an uncertain future must accommodate a wide variety of outcomes and include an increasingly diverse group stakeholders.
Our team is supporting the Port of San Francisco in exploring, assessing and communicating adaptive flood risk mitigation strategies for the future viability of San Francisco’s piers.
In collaboration with maritime and infrastructure experts from Arcadis and Lotus Water, we have developed a toolkit of strategies that will inform future development proposals for the piers. This comprehensive approach aims to preserve a historic and cultural resource, enhance and sustain the economic vitality of the waterfront and strengthen the critical infrastructure it harbors.
Read more about the first phase of this project in John King's article in the San Francisco Chronicle (6 February 2020).

SFPUC's Community Benefits team is committed to prepare the next generation of environmental stewards. Our team's fresh, creative outlook expands and brings forward the agency's Education Program. With a focus on partnerships and community empowerment, we have developed a visual narrative that engages a diverse audience through the lens of environmental and civic stewardship.

We were commissioned to survey the Bayview's Third Street shops and street life. The resulting photography will be used to study existing adjacencies and develop economic strategies that can enhance the vibrancy of this urban corridor.

Berkeley's iconic Telegraph Avenue embodies a rich legacy of political activism that shaped the counterculture of the 1960's. From People's Park to civil rights, free speech and the technological revolution, young people imagined the radical social change that gave way to a more inclusive society. These histories of collective action are increasingly relevant today.

A series of street markers and unique icons have been created to support the Telegraph Tour and bring forward Berkeley's intangible cultural heritage.

Our team supported SFPUC and SFAC in the preparation of an Arts Master Plan that would outline SFPUC's long-term cultural investment in the Bayview neighborhood. The Bayview Arts Master Plan outlines a Bayview-centric public art process, and seeks to enhance a sense of belonging in the community by recognizing the past, empowering the present, and imagining a shared future. We planned and facilitated community workshops, analyzed outreach findings, and developed a creative placemaking strategy that connects SFPUC's environmental stewardship mission with cultural values of the Bayview community.

The planned technological improvements to the Southeast Treatment Plant through the Sewer System Improvement Program, offer opportunities to reimagine public infrastructure in its urban context and relation to the City, and to reenergize existing partnerships with the Bayview community. The shared vision is to transform the Southeast Treatment Plant into a state of the art Resource Recovery Campus, a City destination, a proud neighborhood asset, and an attractive workplace. Internal and external stakeholder workshops led to the preparation of a master plan and accompanying design guidelines. The resulting framework became a critical tool in the Civic Design Review process for Phase 1 projects, helping set the context for this 20-year implementation program.

In collaboration with Wess Diptee, Lotus Water, SiteLab, InkëDesign and Mengxi Wu.

This facility will support research for future Mars missions and will set a new benchmark for biosciences research. A collaborative work environment and strong integration with the landscape are at the heart of the design concept for this building. The open character of the lab spaces will allow research to be visible to passers-by, while an iconic shade canopy provides shade to informal meeting spaces in the landscape.
Completed February 2020

Project while at AECOM, San Francisco.