West 8 Shortlisted in Fort Mason Center 2012 Design Competition

From an invited list of 20 world-class architectural, landscape and urban design firms, the West 8 team has been selected as one of three finalists for the Fort Mason Center Design Competition in San Francisco. The selection committee announced their unanimous choice on Monday, July 23th.

For over 35 years, the nonprofit Fort Mason Center has served as a unique community destination, hosting arts and cultural events, organizations and programs in historic warehouse buildings and piers along San Francisco’s scenic northern waterfront. As a vital cultural resource within San Francisco, Fort Mason occupies a 13-acre waterfront site with unparalleled views of the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, and Angel Island. Open to the public and part of the National Park Service’s Golden Gate National Recreation Area, over 1.5 million people visit Fort Mason Center annually.

The Fort Mason Center Design Competition is seeking creative and practical design concepts to further enliven and integrate the site. The design should enable Fort Mason Center to realize its full potential, both as a vital and stimulating location for arts and culture, and as an attractive destination for enjoyment of the site. The three finalists will develop design concepts for Pier One, integrate improvements to the public realm and integrate  connections between Fort Mason, San Francisco Bay, the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and the City.

The West 8 team – led by Adriaan Geuze, founding partner and design director of West 8, in collaboration with local designers Mark Jensen, principal at Jensen Architects, Marcel Wilson, principal at the landscape architecture firm Bionic, and Ila Berman, Director of Architecture at California College of the Arts – is inspired by the tremendous potential of Fort Mason Center to be a robust and integral component of the San Francisco waterfront. Our team, with extensive technical expertise, also includes Charles Edwin Chase of Architectural Resources Group, Richard Dornhelm of the marine engineering firm Moffat & Nichol, Drew Gagnes of the engineering firm Magnusson Klemencic Associates, Candace Damon of the economic advisory firm HR&A Advisors, Alice Nguyen of the cost estimating firm Langdon Associates and Jim Hornback of the parking management firm Impark. The team brings decades of experience in planning and design experience on waterfront sites all over the world and a wealth of site specific knowledge on the San Francisco waterfront.

The three chosen finalists will deliver an enhanced vision for the Fort Mason Center Campus developing their proposals for a public presentation to the competition jury and the Fort Mason Center board, staff and community later this fall. The competition jury includes Andrea Cochran (Andrea Cochran Landscape Architecture), Bonnie Fisher (ROMA Design Group), Michael Maltzan (Michael Maltzan Architecture), Mark Buell (Chair, Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, and President, San Francisco Recreation and Parks Commission) and Frank Dean (Superintendent, Golden Gate National Recreation Area). An exhibit of the work will be held in San Francisco at Fort Mason Center.

Details: Fort Mason Center 2012 Design Competition

For more information, please see the articles in San Francisco Chronicle & Curbed San Francisco.