duboce triangle urban views

Views:  this is urban living so we see our neighbors and that’s part of the experience in a city we love.  Duboce Triangle condos, well into framing.  The exterior walls have been significantly peeled away to pick up views, bring in light and create outdoor decks.  This is the new third floor that was inserted in the upper area of what used to be a double-height space.  The brick church and steeple dominate this southeast view.
Urban archeology:  when we cut open the massive wall on the east side we discovered there was a green building behind it.  Hi neighbor! The cut area will provide a recessed area for windows and a small deck on the lower level.   Looking west, much of the perimeter wall has been cut away for new decks and windows, leaving this remnant segment.  Not only will this create comfortable interior living spaces but it’s improving the neighbors’ experience by reducing the overall massive bulk of this building. Here is another west view at the surprisingly symmetrical arc of Buena Vista Park.  Another view to the west, toward Corona Heights with the summer fog starting to roll in…studs!  Reused old redwood framing in a future hallway.  Here’s a view of an existing alley between this and a neighboring building toward the street.  The photo was taken from a new deck that was formerly a solid property line wall. Looking out the front of the building which is located at a T intersection.  This is a section of the existing fascia that was removed as part of the remodel.  Some interest has been expressed in this mistakenly described ‘historic’ element, which as seen is nothing more than chips of wood tacked on to evoke dentils.  Nothing more than a painted wood wafer…..….for the birds!  More to come!

raze the roof

A well-lit facade.  There’s a glow coming through the windows of this building, and looking through them you can see the sky.  In the demo phase, the (sagging, leaking) roof has been removed.  (some of these photos are terribly dark / contrasty, I took them with my not-so-great phone camera!).  These patched-together trusses, pretty in silhouette, were bowed pretty badly over the 50ft span.  A few of the pieces had large splits/breaks in them.  Most of the timber is being reused as framing elsewhere in the building and/or has been donated.  Some windows have even been passed along to an artist who paints on the glass. The view of the Lutheran church on er, Church St from the rear of the building.  The existing building filled almost the entire lot from side to side and front to back, so we’re modifying the walls in order to create legal operable windows.  Some old framing reused as staggered studs between rooms.  A view through the wall to an adjacent building. Some framing and old window openings at the front of the building.  These quirky top floor windows were only about 1ft from the floor, not really matching the interior spaces.  Toddlers would enjoy them, I suppose.  You can see how much empty space is above them on the wall…..great placement!?  More to come –

duboce triangle remodel

This dull old building is in full-swing demo phase, to the studs!   This was only the second project I took on although it’s just starting now in 2011.  It’s composed of a double-wide lot, almost entirely covered by building with a 4′ back yard.  We are remodeling it to have dwelling units and a commercial space at the street.  The history of the building is long and somewhat spotty; old plans from the early 1900s show meeting rooms and commercial spaces.  It was most recently used by a church congregation because it has a huge 50’x50′ room at the back.  The current building is an ersatz version of the original, whose large-scale window shapes can be seen as the stucco is removed.Here are some early 1900s items found in the crawlspace when the floor was taken up.  Prince Albert in a can!  There was a mountain of bottle caps, sardine cans, some glass bottles, and other junk probably from the crew who built it originally. Most of the ‘junk’ was found just under this staircase in the dirt.  Old lobby arches amidst a mountain of debris.  We donated much of the large, intact redwood framing pieces to a scrap / reuse business Building Resources here in SF.  I plan to have some of the salvaged wood used as interior siding.  More salvaged plumbing fixtures seen below.  (they’d make cool planters or garden sculptures..)Here’s the main room formerly used for church and the arched altar space. This stair was tucked inside some walls, and was probably originally open.  We’ll carefully take this apart and donate all its pieces as well.  A large (heavenly?) skylight above the old church space.  The gabled roof is being dismantled and a flat roof put in its place – the inadequate trusses are sagging and would be too complex to retain.   A lot of wood to salvage!   More to come –