South San Francisco, CA February 17, 2018 Press Release
Resilient by Design | Bay Area Challenge Team to Open Pop-Up Storefront to Engage South San Francisco Residents in Planning for Climate Change
The innovative, community-based design challenge aimed at strengthening the region’s resilience to sea level rise and climate change is coming to South City.
South San Francisco, CA — Beginning on Tuesday, February 20, 2018, South San Francisco residents will have a chance to shape how their city and region plan for climate change and sea level rise with the grand opening of the Resilient by Design | Bay Area Challenge community hub at 304 Grand Avenue in South San Francisco.
The formerly-vacant retail space will be transformed by international design firm HASSELL+ and their multidisciplinary team into a community meeting place, design and educational center, and display space for photographs and stories from the South San Francisco Historical Society and SFO Aviation Museum. The HASSELL+ team was selected in September 2017 by the Resilient by Design challenge to lead the visioning, community engagement, and design of a plan to tackle the climate challenges facing South San Francisco today and into the future.
The grand opening will feature remarks by San Mateo County Board of Supervisors President Dave Pine, Amanda Brown-Stevens, Managing Director, Bay Area Resilient by Design Challenge, South San Francisco Council Members, community leaders and members of the HASSELL+ team in addition to giveaways and information on the project and opportunities for public participation. Beginning Friday, February 23, 2018, the pop-up center will be open to the public Tuesday – Friday from 9am – 5pm and Saturdays from 9am – 1pm through the end of April.
“Addressing the challenge of sea level rise in San Mateo County will require bold and innovative community-based solutions,” says San Mateo County Board of Supervisors President Dave Pine. “The expertise brought by the HASSELL+ team will be an invaluable resource as we strive to create resilience and integrate our communities with a rapidly changing San Francisco Bay.”
Over the course of nearly three months in the pop-up space, the HASSELL+ team will be applying its “Collect and Connect” toolkit to draw heavily on local voices and insights to ensure design solutions reflect community needs. For example, HASSELL+ may work with community members to imagine a new Shoreline Park at Colma Creek or engage local youth in creating a vision for the future.
“We want communities to design along with us, so that together we’re coming up with meaningful, practical solutions that can be developed locally and shared regionally,” says Richard Mullane, principal at HASSELL. “Our aim is to bring the communities of South San Francisco to the shoreline, re-connect them to the water through education about sea-level rise and climate change, and collect ideas for adaptive solutions.”
About Resilient by Design
Resilient by Design | Bay Area Challenge is a collaborative research and design initiative that connects design leaders to community members, local leaders, and national experts. In a yearlong challenge, 10 Design Teams of landscape architects, engineers, and other experts will work alongside community members and local government to identify critical areas along the San Francisco Bayfront and propose exciting new solutions that will strengthen our region’s resilience to sea level rise, severe storms, and earthquakes.
The Challenge will result in 10 new implementable solutions designed to help communities adapt to the future effects of climate change. These solutions will be designed to improve public access to recreation areas, address housing issues, protect vulnerable infrastructure and strengthen transportation systems. Learn more at www.resilientbayarea.org.
About the HASSELL+ Team
HASSELL+ brings interdisciplinary skills ranging from the design of the built environment to hydrology engineering, systems/product design, heritage assessment and community engagement. HASSELL+ brings a unique ability to collaborate and intersect their knowledge in order to generate innovative solutions. Their aim is to design and deliver places and systems that improve the physical and social resilience of communities while performing vital daily and emergency functions for those communities. Learn more at www.hassellstudio.com or on Facebook www.facebook.com/resilientsouthcity.
The HASSELL+ team brings international and local expertise in community engagement, design, and engineering and includes HASSELL, MVRDV, Deltares and Goudappel, Lotus Water, Hatch, Civic Edge, Idyllist and Page and Turnbull out of the Bay Area.