Aecom are creating a new waterfront public park in San Francisco that will incorporate elements of the site's former life as a port, including its cranes, the slipway and former cribbing and keel blocks.
Crane Cove Park is part of the wider regeneration of the
Pier 70 shipyard, which was San Francisco's largest shipbuilding facility before it closed down and was turned over to the
Port of San Francisco in 1982.
The project, commissioned by the Port, will see the disused industrial waterfront and infrastructure repurposed for residential developments, offices, retail offerings, public spaces and arts facilities.
The park will be part of the
Blue Greenway network of parks, trails, beaches and bay access points that connects the city to the shore.
It has been shaped by the input of the local community through workshops, community meetings and stakeholder events.
These led to the inclusion in the design of features like a beach, which people will be able to use for relaxing, events and watersports.
To create the beach, the concrete dockside had to be removed before the retained land was treated and engineered to make it safe following years of contamination.
Two of the port's cranes will remain in place over the old slipway, with fundraising activity now being carried out for the restoration of their cabs and booms.
The slipway itself forms part of the park's contingency for stormwater management, providing space for inundation and run-off, along with other elements like water-efficient landscaping and rain gardens.
The concrete cribbing and keel blocks that used to support ships as they were being constructed, meanwhile, are being combined with reclaimed timber to create seating.
The park will also feature cafés, a plaza and public restrooms that will be built in a converted galvanising building.
As further references to the site's past, rusting and derelict machinery and materials will be retained, with their patinas and states of decay evolving over time.
Similarly, the park's colourful planting will be informed by the flora that naturally colonised the site during the years of its disuse and will help to attract wildlife to the area.
The Crane Cove Park project began with a request for proposals in 2011. Construction is ongoing and the park is due to open in early-to-mid 2020.
