"Kit of Parts" for open space elements proposed as widened sidewalk spaces along Folsom Street. Drawing: Public Architecture "Drop-in element," showing how one such open space element might replace parking on Folsom Street. Collage: Public Architecture		A Nonprofit Model: Public Architecture By Tim Culvahouse, AIA The built environment is full of problems waiting to be solved, but conventional design practice addresses only a fraction of them. Too many problems remain unaddressed because they lack either a clearly defined client or an obvious development incentive. In early 2002, San Francisco architect John Peterson established Public Architecture, a public interest architecture firm, to identify and resolve just such problems. Attorney Tom Panelli, formerly director of Immigration Legal Services for Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County, came on board as executive director and organized Public Architecture as a California nonprofit public benefit corporation. Rather than waiting for commissions that represent well-understood needs and desires, Public Architecture takes a leadership role, identifying significant problems of broad relevance that require innovative research and design. We answer needs and desires that are palpable but poorly defined, where both client and financing must be imagined in new and creative ways. Pubic Architecture is guided by a fundamental goal: to dissolve the distinction between high design and popular design. We bring the values of high design—innovation, intellectual currency, critical appraisal of the status quo—to bear on significant problems in our communities. We believe strongly in the importance of these design values, because architecture doesn’t merely function; it establishes identity and enables people to speak, to participate, and to act. To pursue its goals, Pubic Architecture is rethinking the form of architectural practice itself. Through the generosity of individual, corporate, and foundation supporters, Public Architecture works for the public good by providing a stable, ongoing venue outside the economic constraints of conventional practice. Public Architecture has three design projects currently underway. First is the SoMa Open Space Strategy, which proposes reconfiguring one of South of Market’s major thoroughfares, Folsom Street, as a pedestrian-oriented, transit-intensive street, where generous sidewalks provide space for a variety of outdoor activities. The incremental installation of diverse public amenities, keyed to the conditions of Folsom Street’s varying uses, makes for a responsive rather than prescriptive urban plan, and one with national relevance. The SoMa Open Space Strategy is being developed with generous funding from Benjamin Moore & Company. A second project is the Day Laborer Place, a prototype for a day laborer center that takes as its starting point the manner in which these men and women naturally come together to seek work, gathering on street corners or in parking lots adjacent to home improvement stores. Our model addresses demographic factors underlying the geographic distribution of day laborer pick-up locations, issues arising from language barriers, and the management of vehicular traffic. It offers ideas to mitigate the disruptions these factors produce in the fabric of a city. The third current project is an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) Prototype, addressing recent state legislation requiring municipalities to allow “as-of-right” development of ADUs in single-family residential zones. We are proposing a functionally and symbolically intensive modular plug-in for the conversion of existing home garages to new residential units. Like the Open Space Strategy and the Day Laborer Place, the ADU prototype will be broadly applicable across the country. In addition to undertaking projects of its own, Public Architecture seeks to motivate the profession at large to think more systematically about pro bono, public interest work. While many—perhaps most—architects give of their expertise from time to time, the profession as a whole has never structured its pro bono endeavors as clearly as has, say, the legal profession. Public Architecture’s 1% Solution—through which firms pledge a portion of their time to the public interest and are recognized for their contributions (see sidebar)—aims to encourage architects nationwide to formalize their commitment to the public good. Tim Culvahouse, AIA, is editor of arcCA and interim executive director of Public Architecture, www.publicarchitecture.org. _ BACK TO DEPARTMENTS