We worked with Horizon Partners to convert this five-story concrete warehouse in Oakland’s Jack London Square into 37 live/work spaces with ground floor retail. The project included both seismic and life safety upgrades to the building.
Our challenge was to turn an inward-focused, concrete warehouse into a place for people to live and work. Our design approach included carving out three structural bays at street level to create an entry scaled to the size of the building. The design allowed the entry stair to cascade out onto the wide sidewalk under a new glass canopy to create a sense of entry and a connection between interior and exterior. Within the building, unit entries were grouped to create common “squares” which provide spatial rhythm and reduce the apparent length of corridors. Each unit was designed with a minimum build-out in order to leave the spaces as flexible as possible for future occupants.