The San Francisco Bay Area will serve as a living laboratory for research and speculative design intervention. The studio challenges students to envision new models of resilient and sustainable urban development, considering the context of site transformations past, present, and future. Students will work at multiple scales (Region, City, Neighborhood, Building, Person) illuminating the interconnection and complexity of the urban fabric and local ecology. Utilizing the framework of an iterative design and creative discourse, teams will investigate the site-specific built environment, community stakeholders, and development scenarios leading to speculative designs that are rooted in a place-based narrative. Design proposals will be tasked with addressing issues of affordable housing, infrastructure, transportation, social justice, ecology, climate change, technology, and livability, etc. The final design and research will be represented graphically with a final presentation and documentation of the studio work, in addition to an interactive public tour using augmented reality. Each of you will be a contributor to the content of this work and making DISC 2024 a success!  

The studio project will focus on San Francisco’s Embarcadero waterfront, exploring how it might adapt over the next 100 years to become a model of urban sustainability. Students will work in a team to create design proposals that address climate change adaptation, affordable housing, and urban infrastructure transformation to be more resilient, livable, and ecologically focused. The goal of the studio is to combine the knowledge gained from parts of the DISC program, (fieldwork, lectures, seminars, and digital workshops), along with the interdisciplinary knowledge of each student in the team to create innovative new approaches to urban form. Design of the built environment is inherently an optimistic pursuit, and as such students will explore the transformative potential of visualizing speculative futures.

The issues presented by population growth, gentrification, outdated infrastructure, and climate change present a complex series of urban problems. This includes regional versus local governance, built versus natural environment, and diverging interests from diverse stakeholders. With each possible future scenario come multiple outcomes with its winners and losers. How can the best policy and design be selected and tested? How will distinct communities learn about the different options and strategies for adaptation and be empowered to act? The DISC studio seeks to reframe these challenges as an opportunity for design innovation! By creating and testing out sustainable development scenarios, students will explore different outcomes that inform future urban planning and design decisions.

By 2050, it is estimated that the Bay Area’s population will rise from nearly 8 million to over 10 million residents and the number of jobs will grow from 4 million to 5 million, according to the Plan Bay Area 2050. While this report may sound promising, there are numerous challenges facing the Bay Area. There is currently a deficiency of affordable housing, leading to a surge in home prices and rental rates, making the Bay Area one of the most expensive places to live in the world. The influx of new tech company jobs has brought economic growth but has conversely exacerbated issues of displacement and gentrification affecting local communities. Transportation infrastructure is nearing maximum capacity on roadways, city and regional bus and rail systems. Waterfront homes and businesses, wastewater treatment facilities, and urban infrastructure are at risk of flooding due to sea-level rise and increased storm events related to climate change. Global warming threatens to bring more droughts and wildfires, leading to poor air quality, environmental hazards, and lack of water in California.

By 2100, San Francisco is expecting an increased threat of flooding due to extreme storms and a sea-level rise of 3 to 7 feet. The Port of San Francisco has created the Waterfront Resilience Program, to explore strategies for adaptation, such as the “Embarcadero Seawall Program.” As sea-levels rise and compound flooding from more severe storm events threaten coastal development, this also presents an opportunity to reconsider the relationship between land and sea. The traditional perspective of a static and fixed shoreline boundary separating city and water creates an artificial problem of having to defend territory that by its very nature wants to be in flux. Natural shores are continuously changing, with the ebb and flow of the tides, shifting of sands, and shaping through wind and storms. If we consider a shore-area that is a living and ever-changing environment, rather than a static boundary, we can begin to create new forms of coastal architecture and infrastructure that both embrace and collaborate with intertidal liminality.

By 2124, it is likely that life will look very different for people in San Francisco and around the world, which will be mirrored in the design and use of the built environment. Consider what values might people have in the future and how can this be shaped and reflected in city form? How might technology change society? The wide-spread deployment of autonomous driving vehicles may change the use and space required on city streets. Could the city adopt a car-free street system focused on public transportation, pedestrians, and bicycles? What else could city streets and parking lots be used for (urban forests, community gardens, playgrounds, housing, water reservoirs, etc.)? This is an opportunity to consider a reshaping of the current built environment from the shoreline to the streets. San Francisco has undergone many transformations over the past 170 years to create the city that is seen today. What might it look like in the next 100 years by focusing on urban health, social equity, and climate change resilience?

Students will be conducting research and design work on a weekly basis, individually and in teams. This work will build towards the final studio deliverables described below:

• Psychogeographic Mapping - A mapping of observed site factors by geo-referencing photos and written narrative descriptions.

• SWOT Analysis - An assessment of the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats in the site area. 

• Postcards from the Future - Describe a future scenario of the site as a postcard with an image and written story of San Francisco in 2124.

• Urban Design Proposal - Research and design efforts will inform a team-based approach to Waterfront Adaptation of the Embarcadero site. Students will be given specific guidelines for content that will include graphic representation, written narrative, and the following components:

  • Site Analysis

  • Stakeholders Character Study

  • Resilience Strategies Toolkit

  • Chance Event Cards

  • Scenario Planning

  • Architectural Drawings

• Urban Simulation Model – Student teams will create an analog process model that will serve as a platform to investigate the potential outcomes of different development strategies and scenarios to inform the Urban Design Proposal. 

• Augmented Reality Installation – Students will create Augmented Reality installations of the Embarcadero waterfront for community engagement.

• DISC 2024 Gallery Exhibition - Final work will be displayed in the Wurster Gallery with invited guest critics who will offer expert feedback.

• DISC 2024 Blog – The DISC blog will serve as an archive of the studio work. The blog will be a compilation of the design process and final work, in addition to other DISC program content.