Merit Award
Peak Experience: Deploying San Francisco's Iconic Terrain as an Agent for Discovery, Play and Community Engagement
San Francisco, CA
Designers: Kimberly Garza and Andrew tenBrink
Client: Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and the San Francisco Planning Department
"San Francisco is defined by its hills. [… ] They are the mirror image of the neighborhoods [that] divide the City. They shape the fog, guiding it away from sunny districts and into others. What better way to know San Francisco than to know its hills?" , Dave Schweisguth
Drawing from the nearly 53 hills that frame San Francisco's diverse neighborhoods, Peak Experience re-conceives San Francisco's hills into a series of undulating mounds that promote the integration of play in the urban fabric. In response to often static streetscape design models, Peak Experience re-imagines three iconic hills of San Francisco (Nob Hill, Russian Hill and Telegraph Hill) into a flexible play surface, providing an opportunity for safe play along Market Street while educating the community about San Francisco's unique landscape.
