In the heart of San Francisco, Highway 280 feeds and divides the neighborhoods of SOMA, Portrero Hill and Mission Bay. As the neighborhood identity evolves, the freeway becomes more intrusive. The Mission Bay Freeline Project is an alternative to removing the portion of 280 and builds an 111,000 Square foot community of commercial/retail and park space and community theatre on and around the existing freeway structure. A fluid veil shrouds the freeway and houses the new program.

The Freeline’s elevation promotes an awareness of a rising sea level and provides space for the former wetland to resurface. Parks are formed in and around the wetland softly threading together the SOMA, Potrero Hill and Mission Bay Neighborhoods with the new program. Parks for play, exercise, athletic competition, recreational trails and open space weave in and out, over and under the Freeline. An assembly of infrastructure becomes a hub of activity; pathways and ramps are strategically placed to provide connections from the surrounding neighborhoods to the elevated promenades of the structure.

Similar to the highway structures in Europe and Asia, the existing highways Northern end (including on/off ramps) are shrouded with a transparent casing to decrease the sound transmittance. The central and spread out distribution of traffic that exists remains in tact.

What was once a harsh barrier becomes a central nucleus of activity and culture and a new Southeastern gate to its home in San Francisco.

Part of an international design completion sponsored by The Center for Architecture + Design and the Seed Fund.