

San Francisco,CA


Palmilia By the Bay
The project is an assembly of parcels near the San Francisco Bay totaling 3.21 acres, or 139,817 sq. ft. These parcels will be subjected to a new subdivision plan creating two interconnected developments labeled Palmilia Project A and Palmilia Project B comprising 494,231sq.ft. of total gross area (see sheet A003-A005 for full breakdown of area calculations). The design concept for the entire Palmilia Complex is based in some fundamental principles as follows:
1. The assembly of parcels will be subjected to a new subdivision plan creating two interconnected developments labeled Project A and Project B.
2. To take advantage of the existing topography to articulate the structures facilitating all the different land uses while maximizing the view to the bay. Giving the existing topography and the restriction imposed by water table levels, the parking provided for the entire complex (Project A and B) is proposed to be located within Project A.
3. As the OCII design guidelines (Block 1 HPS Design for Development Phase One, here referred to as “D for D”) established, the site design celebrates view corridors connecting the existing urban fabric with the future adjacent park and the bay. Following that criteria, the proposed design is creating two view corridors
connecting the adjacent streets (Innes Ave and Donahue St) with an unobstructed view of the Bay and the future park.
4. The underground parking (located in Project A) serves separately the retail area, the 178 units of Project A and the 46 units of Project B.
5. The continuation of Hudson street within the premises, addresses two different purposes: A Fire Lane with restricted vehicular access and a View Corridor connecting Donahue Street with the adjacent open space and the bay.
6. The overall massing is stepping down towards the bay following the natural grade and emphasizing the views of all units towards the park and the bay.
Program of Uses
(see A003-A005 for project area breakdown)
Residential
The principal land use of the project consists of residential dwelling units along with retail areas at street level. There are 178 dwelling units on Project A totaling 160,356 sf of habitable space. Project A has 50 one-bedroom units, 124 two-bedroom units, and 4 three bedroom units.
Project B has 46 dwelling units totaling 57,948 sf of habitable space. Project B has 17 one-bedroom units, 18 two-bedroom units, and 11 three-bedroom units.
Retail
There is 19,761 sq.ft. of retail located on levels 2 through 4. Roughly half of that area is located at street front and allocated to be a market (intersection of Innes and Donahue). The remaining area is tiered from Level 2 through 4. There are 2 mews (or mid-block breaks) on the site. Retail fronts either side of the India-basin mew. This promotes visual links to the bay, a sense of openness, and an inviting demeanor promoting pedestrian interaction.
Parking
There are two underground levels of parking on levels 2 and 3 totaling 132,950 sq.ft. These levels satisfy the parking requirements for all residential and retail off-street.
Maximum Density
Based upon the signed agreement on closing with Lennar, the agreed upon number of units for the property is 224 and 20,000 sq.ft. of retail.
Parking and Loading
As defined on p.16 in D for D
Residential Parking:
Project A: Parking is underground on Levels 2 and 3. There are 186 spaces (inclusive of 10 ADA spaces) allocated for the 178 units in Project A.
Project B: Separate parking for Project B (46 dwelling units) is located on Level 2 of Project A and accessed via Level 4 (Innes Ave) drive ramp. After parking, access to dwelling units is made via underground tunnel from Project A to Project B. There are 56 spaces (inclusive of 3 ADA spaces) in this designated area.
There is a total of 242 (186 + 56) for 224 units.
Retail Parking:
There is 19,761 square feet of retail, one stall is required for each 500 sq.ft. of occupied floor area where the occupied floor area exceeds 5,000 sq.ft.
19,761/500 = 39.5 required parking spaces (40 spaces; inclusive of 2 ADA spaces)
Parking for Retail is accessed via Donahue St. drive ramp to Level 3. There is a round-about at the start of the drive path to allow for easy of vehicular egress and passenger and retail loading zones.
Off-Street Loading (loading spaces are exclusive of required parking)
Residential: 2 spaces provided on Level 3 retail parking area (2 spaces for 200-500k sq.ft.: 474,470 sq.ft. of gross residential floor area)
Non-Residential: 1 space provided on Level 3 retail parking area (1 space for 10-60k sq.ft.: 19,761 sq.ft. of retail)
TOTAL PARKING:
224 (residential) + 40 (retail) + 3 (loading) = 285 spaces (inclusive of 15 ADA spaces)
Off-Street Bicycle Parking:
Based on the OCII Design Guidelines:
As defined on p.18 in D for D
For projects over 50 dwelling units, 25 Class 1 spaces shall be
provided, plus one Class 1 space for every 4 additional dwelling units over 50
25 + (224-50)/4= 68.5 required spaces
69 Bicycle Parking at two locations:
Bicycle Parking Space A) has 20 Bicycle Parking Spots (15X25=360 SF) is accessed via Donahue St. over the roundabout by the lobby (Level 3)
Parking and Loading (continued)
Bicycle Parking Space B has 56 Stacked Bicycle Parking Spots (15X35=360 SF) is accessed via Innes St Southside in between the Canvas and retail area. (Level 4)
56+20=76>69 spaces
All bicycle parking areas will be fully enclosed. Area A on level 3 is enclosed with Level 4 slab above and gated at entry. Area B on Level 4 will have an enclosed area with a roof.
Building Coverage
As defined on p.14 in D for D
Site Dimension within city right of way Length along Innes Ave: 580’, Length along Donahue: 404’-6”
The allowed building coverage for this lot is 75%. The given lot size is 139,817 sq.ft., inclusive of the city right of way along Innes and Donahue. The property within the city right of way totals 120,320 sq.ft. (See A100.7)
71,800/120,320 = 59.7% of coverage
Setbacks
Within building strong corners (along the entirety of Innes and Donahue), 3’-10’ setbacks are incorporated between modulations to give a gentle play and to provide articulation in the building’s façade. The natural grade slopes down towards the bay from Innes partially exposing Level 3 parking; the required setback at this area is carried down to Level 3 and anywhere the is a partial exposure.
Setbacks along the rear and side property lines vary, with a maximum of 7’-6” taking advantage of the abutting open spaces (future park) directly connected to the Bay front.
See A100.5 for setback and modulation diagram.
Street Wall
As defined on p.28 in D for D
(see A100.5 for setback and modulation diagram)
Block Corners Held
-Strong corners are held at the intersection of Earl and Innes and Innes and Donahue street to provide prominent street fronts. Bold corners are held at the Hudson mew (Donahue and Hudson intersection). Bold corners are held along either side of the Innes mid-block break. The lengths of strong corners vary from 40’-60’ with at least one length parallel to a street face.
Potential Setbacks
-in addition to building setbacks, the façade fluctuates from 3’-10’ in conjunction with modulations. Setback “voids” are either treated with at least 40% of that space being landscape or street activation.
Block Modulations
-Within strong corners, and in tandem with façade setbacks, the perimeter façade has a modulation of 34’-0”. This dimension correlates to the widths of typical/modular units.
Street Wall (continued)
The presence of vegetated vertical trellis and the use of different façade finishes helps to separate and differentiate building masses
Mid-block Breaks
The project has two mews (also known as mid-block breaks or view corridors). Both mews have an open and unobstructed view to bay. India-Basin Mew runs tangent off of Innes Ave -mew width is 20’ at level 4 (retail level) and 28’ at level 5 (residential) Hudson Mew runs perpendicular off of Donahue Ave -mew doubles as a fire apparatus lane with a width of 35’ façade to façade
Retail
Retail is situated at the corner of Innes and Donahue on street level. The façade will consist of no less than 75% of transparent glazing.
Building Height
As defined on p.7 in D for D & Section 270 of Planning Code
The project is located in Block 1 District A with a maximum of 55’-0” allowed. Maximum Height for Project A is 55’, Maximum Height for Project B is 55’.
The allowed height from the curb line to a lot depth (horizontal depth) of 100’ is 55’ (on both Innes and Donahue). Along all curb lines fronting Innes And Donahue, the buildings on Project A & B reach the allowed 55’ vertical distance.
Beyond this, the remainder of the depth is offset 10’ from the opposing lot line; from which the average ground elevations determine the allowed vertical distance:
Measured perpendicular from Donahue, the average elevation between the 100’ lot depth (45’ elevation) and 10’ opposing lot depth (35’ elevation) offset (running east and west) is 40’; allowing a total of 95’ building height envelope within this area. The Building height for any portion of the project beyond the 100’ lot depth from Donahue reaches a maximum of 95’ in elevation. (see A100.6A)
Measured perpendicular from Innes, the average elevation between the 100’ lot depth (57’ elevation) and 10’ opposing lot depth (27’ elevation) offset (running north and south) is 42’ allowing a total of 97’ building height envelope. The Building height for any portion of the project beyond the 100’ lot depth does not exceed 96’ in elevation. (see A100.6, AA502)
The maximum plan dimension length is 110’ and 125’ diagonal dimension which apply above a height of 40’ (Sec 270). The site slopes down towards the bay, with its highest point along Innes. Building elevation along Donahue (see AA401) depicts a condition where there are 2 areas where the building achieves 5 stories due to the natural slope. To ensure code compliance, the 5th Level is segmented to 125’ diagonal dimension providing an additional rooftop common open area (see AA108, A100.6C)
In tandem with this code, the project incorporates an 8’ setback from building facade on all fifth levels (p.31 OCII) (see A100.6 for height diagram and A100.6C for plan)
Projections
As defined on p.19 in D for D
The entire street front along Innes and Donahue have no projections into the setbacks. Projections only occur on rear park frontage property lines with balconies projecting 3' into the setback.
Open Space
As defined on p.18-19 in D for D
See A003 for open space area breakdown
Each dwelling unit has a private balcony that faces the street, the bay, an interior courtyard or mew. However, not all of these balconies can be counted toward private open space are because they lack 6’ in depth. The balconies that do have this depth total 6,100 sf (comprised of both Project A & B).
There is a total of 13 common open spaces throughout the project. The required open space, give the number of units per project is:
Project A: 178 units x 80sq.ft. = 14,240sq.ft. of required open space
Project A has 3,610 sq.ft. of private open space and 43,031sq.ft (24,131+18,900) of common open space; totaling 46,641sq.ft.
Project B: 46 units x 80sq.ft. = 3,680sq.ft. of required open space
Project B has 2,380sq.ft. of private open space and 3,730sq.ft. of common open space; totaling 5,620 sq.ft.
These areas have been incorporated to compliment the architecture in ways which take advantage of views and reduce the overall bulk at fifth levels.
Phasing Plan
The project is intending to be permitted in its entirety for Project A and Project B. The building schedule for the project will be straight forward starting with grading. Then, Foundations (inclusive of parking and fire apparatus lane) for both Project A and B; followed by wood frame construction. See below for “Structure” analysis for more detail
Structure and Building Envelope
The structure of the buildings is generally described as Type III wood-framing over Type I concrete. Up to 5 levels of residential construction will be supported with load-bearing wood framing, all within the Type IIIA fire rating requirements for exterior and interior structural walls. The concrete podium is typically a two-way mild-steel reinforced flat slab supported by columns on a roughly 30ft x 30ft grid and special reinforced concrete shear walls. The top level of the concrete podium is consistent within each parcel, and creates a horizontal transitional plane from Type III to Type I construction.
Foundations of the project are anticipated to be shallow isolated spread footings and a slab on grade, pending geotechnical verification for this portion of the site.
Residential levels that are below that plane will be constructed to Type I fire protection requirements with non-structural partition walls framed with non-load bearing metal stud construction. Some localized long-span steel construction meeting Type IIIA requirements is used over the retail space on the east side of the project for tenant flexibility.
Residential units located on top of concrete podium will constructed with Type III wood-framing with 1Hr fire rated corridors and fire scape stairs and partitions separating rooms with light metal studs furred with 5/8 gypsum boards.
Exterior stucco walls (with the exception of shear walls furred with plywood sheeting both sides) will be furred with a ½ inch substrate (plywood or similar) a layer of adhesive, an insulation board or insulation blanket covered with reinforcing mesh completed with a base coat and finally applying the stucco finish coat.
Exterior façade finishes will include a combination of stucco and fiber cement panels, which are complimented with bronze aluminum reveals and facias/trims. These finishes not only serve to soften the façade, but emphasize its articulation and setback modulation.
At strong corners and mid-block connectors, large louver grids systems, made from the same bronze finish as fascia/trims, are found highlighting a sense of entry, importance and grandeur. Coupled with planting at the base of these grids, vertical landscape can be implemented to further support a greener building envelope.
Given there are two main programmatic uses of the project, there are also two glazing types. Residential units/uses will have a more privatized opaque glazing; where Retail will have nearly a transparent glazing to promote visibility either from street level or in the mid-block connection where retail can also be found.
Site hardscape will be comprised of mainly decorative stone tile/pavers. Public pathways and courtyards will be a play of both green scape and hardscape.
To further identify/correlate exterior finishes, see Material Board sheets A140 and A141.