Architecture at Zero
ESTUARYHonor Award Winner 2015
Team: Mithun + PAE Engineers
Site: Mission Bay, SF
The Architecture at Zero competition challenge was to create a zero net energy student housing project at the University of San Francisco Mission Bay campus. ESTUARY addressed the challenges of the competition through strategies that include passive building performance systems, advanced building envelope design, on-site renewable energy collection & enhanced user behavior. The design uses timeless ideas and marries them to cutting edge technology & systems to create a community of residents that is part of the solution.
Ultimately, the project meets the challenge of Getting to Zero, but relies on all these layers of thinking and acting to achieve this goal. Importantly this project is not only about performance. It is inspired and crafted to honor its place - not only as a part of the new & evolving UCSF Mission Bay Campus, but as design that is informed by the pre-development ecology of this region and place. The flow of water through the estuarine marshes evoked in the this design call to mind a sense of movement and discover that the architecture aspires to re-create in the user experience. This is a place that honors not only its place, but the people who live here and invites them to fully be a part of the successes.
