Perkins Eastman’s design for the reimagined Harvey Milk Memorial Plaza in San Francisco will create a walkable, active, and transit-oriented civic space at the site of the current plaza and MUNI station at Castro and Market Streets. The site of the plaza is at the corner where Harvey Milk would gather and rally the Castro community.
A stepping and ramping amphitheater set within a field of LED candles highlights the design, which was unanimously selected by The Friends of Harvey Milk Plaza after a months-long competition. Visitors will climb the stairs of the amphitheater and navigate a timeline that details Milk’s journey from business owner and community activist to his election to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
The new plaza will create a distinct gateway to the Castro neighborhood and also allow the site to become a new architectural, human-scaled urban icon for the city. “The hope is that visitors will be inspired to take up the mantle of Milk’s unfinished work and continue to fight for civil rights,” says Perkins Eastman Associate McCall Wood, who along with Associate Justin Skoda led the winning entry’s design team.
Perkins Eastman will lead the team that includes Arup is the project’s structural engineer and Lightswitch SF as the lighting designer.
Related Stories
| Apr 5, 2013
Snøhetta design creates groundbreaking high-tech library for NCSU
The new Hunt Library at North Carolina State University, Raleigh, incorporates advanced building features, including a five-story robotic bookBot automatic retrieval system that holds 2 million volumes in reduced space.
| Apr 2, 2013
6 lobby design tips
If you do hotels, schools, student unions, office buildings, performing arts centers, transportation facilities, or any structure with a lobby, here are six principles from healthcare lobby design that make for happier users—and more satisfied owners.
| Mar 29, 2013
PBS broadcast to highlight '10 Buildings That Changed America'
WTTW Chicago, in partnership with the Society of Architectural Historians, has produced "10 Builidngs That Changed America," a TV show set to air May 12 on PBS.
| Mar 27, 2013
Small but mighty: Berkeley public library’s net-zero gem
The Building Team for Berkeley, Calif.’s new 9,500-sf West Branch library aims to achieve net-zero—and possibly net-positive—energy performance with the help of clever passive design techniques.
| Mar 22, 2013
8 cool cultural projects in the works
A soaring opera center in Hong Kong and a multi-tower music center in Calgary are among the latest cultural projects.
| Mar 15, 2013
7 most endangered buildings in Chicago
The Chicago Preservation Society released its annual list of the buildings at high risk for demolition.
| Feb 25, 2013
10 U.S. cities with the best urban forests
Charlotte, Denver, and Milwaukee are among 10 U.S. cities ranked recently by the conservation organization American Forests for having quality urban forest programs.
| Feb 22, 2013
Detroit project would bring 'fairytale forest' to riverfront
A proposal by atelierWHY to create a heavily wooded park on the downtown riverfront has taken first place in the juried Detroit By Design competition.
| Feb 19, 2013
'Pop-up' proposal would create movable cultural venue for NYC
The Culture Shed, a proposed 170,000-sf project for New York City's Hudson Yards development, could be the ultimate in "pop-up" facilities.