{"id":443356,"date":"2026-08-25T21:02:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T21:02:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/443356\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T21:02:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T21:02:17","slug":"oma-reveals-its-first-afforable-housing-project-in-san-francisco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/443356\/","title":{"rendered":"OMA reveals its first afforable housing project in San Francisco"},"content":{"rendered":"

730 Stanyan Street in San Francisco<\/a> is OMA\u2019s<\/a> New York<\/a>\u2019s first foray into affordable housing, but there\u2019s nothing remotely cut-rate about its appearance.<\/p>\n

This clever and deftly articulated building opened in late July, fronting the eastern end of Golden Gate Park in Haight-Ashbury. Glass fibre reinforced concrete (GFRC), a light-weight precast cement composite, makes for an elegant and thrifty envelope for a sinuous building that provides 160 vitally-needed affordable housing units for San Francisco<\/a>, the most expensive<\/a> urban rental market in the United States.<\/p>\n

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(Image credit: Jason O’Rear)<\/p>\n

Other firms have amply demonstrated that affordable housing needn\u2019t forsake design distinction in recent years: Lorcan O\u2019Herlihy<\/a>, Brooks Scarpa Huber Architects <\/a>and Michael Maltzan<\/a> in California<\/a>; and Grimshaw, David Adjaye and, soon, even Herzog and de Meuron<\/a> in New York. With 730 Stanyan<\/a>, OMA has joined their ranks with style.<\/p>\n

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(Image credit: Jason O’Rear)<\/p>\n

The city purchased a grimy McDonald’s on the site in 2017, intending to use the lot for affordable housing. Two nonprofits, the Chinatown Community Development Center<\/a> (CCDC) and the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Center<\/a> (TNDC), applied to develop the site. Each has developed numerous projects in the city; the former houses over 5,000 tenants in their buildings, the latter more than 6,800. The Mayor\u2019s Office of Housing and Community Development <\/a>suggested that the two organisations join forces for the project.<\/p>\n

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(Image credit: Jason O’Rear)<\/p>\n

Bo Han, associate director of housing development for the Chinatown CDC had been greatly impressed by OMA and San Francisco firm YA Studio\u2019s<\/a> 2019 collaboration on the Avery Tower<\/a> at the city\u2019s Transbay development. She encouraged the two practices to collaborate in a submission, which beat out 16 competitors. Most firms selected are local; this was a rare win for a team located largely outside the Bay area.<\/p>\n

\u2018We wanted somebody who really understands urban context and could make the needed gesture to make this building fit well into the site, but also something that didn’t look like typical affordable housing,\u2019 she says.<\/p>\n

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(Image credit: Jason O’Rear)<\/p>\n

The financing for affordable housing projects in San Francisco is complex. The city provides predevelopment funding, with contributions from city, state, federal and other sources making up the rest of the project. 730 Stanyan failed to win state support but former mayor London<\/a> Breed, who was previously district supervisor for the site, assisted in obtaining additional city funding. The city owns the site; the project has been granted a 75 year lease with a 24 year option to extend.<\/p>\n

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(Image credit: Jason O’Rear)<\/p>\n

Paul Wang, associate principal at YA Studio, explains their role as \u2018local community outreach, obtaining entitlements and navigating the City\u2019s complicated permitting process, solving code related issues, documenting and overseeing the construction of the building.\u2019<\/p>\n

YA had worked on a number of affordable housing projects previously, but OMA was new to the game. Han, of the Chinatown CDC, explains, \u2018when OMA and YA Studio put their fee proposal together, Jason Long cut his hourly fee by one-third, yet the design team gave it all throughout the entire design process.\u2019<\/p>\n

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(Image credit: Jason O’Rear)<\/p>\n

One of OMA\u2019s struggles was simply to fit in as many units as possible, yet avoiding a domineering form in the process. \u2018We could have done an eight-storey wraparound building, but you would end up with a cold, big, unprogrammed outdoor space, and a lot of mass at the perimeter that would have felt very out of keeping with the neighbourhood,\u2019 OMA principal Jason Long explains.<\/p>\n

There were risks in other directions. The Haight Ashbury Neighborhood Council, among others, objected to its height. \u2018There was a lot of push from some people in the community to break this down into a more forced set of fake townhouses, or to bring colour into the project in a very dramatic way. We resisted both of those efforts and tried to use instead this idea of the facade articulation through the GFRC panels,\u2019 Long adds.<\/p>\n

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(Image credit: Jason O’Rear)<\/p>\n

The envelope is complex, roughly resembling an abstract W in plan, with additional portions carved out at various levels: there are four-story corner volumes in a display of deference to the neighborhood\u2019s scale. Otherwise, most of the building\u2019s height is concentrated at the site\u2019s centre.<\/p>\n

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The facade is serrated and swoops with cantilevers providing repeat visual interest. \u2018The GFRC panels are shaped as a kind of wave, which is a nod to bay windows, but also just gives us a tool to modulate the facade. It reflects the scale of the townhouses in the neighbourhood,\u2019 Long explains. \u2018Additionally we curved it to reflect the organic quality of the park\u2019.<\/p>\n

One neighbourly gesture is a scoop on the building\u2019s north side to recess the facade to meet the street frontage of a Victorian neighbor.<\/p>\n

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(Image credit: Jason O’Rear)<\/p>\n

The GFRC panels are mounted onto a steel frame, with windows and mechanical louvers integrated before placement. \u2018As long as the modules are standardized it’s actually very economical as a building skin system,\u2019 Long says.<\/p>\n

The designers did not have an opulent budget. \u2018One of our concerns with the building was that it might end up feeling a little bit institutional,\u2019 Long says.<\/p>\n

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(Image credit: Jason O’Rear)<\/p>\n

One of their nimble methods of combatting this risk was simply making sharp use of space. The residential units are not especially large but living rooms were located to maximise corner windows and provide a sense of spaciousness. The lobby is airy and amply lit, located between the building\u2019s front and internal courtyard (there\u2019s another courtyard for a daycare on the ground floor). The lobby features characteristic OMA touches: rounded columns; a perforated metal ceiling; and a diagonal mailbox volume that becomes a bench facing parkwards.<\/p>\n

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(Image credit: Jason O’Rear)<\/p>\n

Elevators open onto views of Golden Gate Park. Long says, \u2018Every time you step out of the elevator you\u2019re reoriented to the park. Everyone gets the park view every day.\u2019 The fifth floor terraces offer additional green space. The laundry room is not located in a grim basement, but next to one of these terraces. Economical supergraphics nodding to late San Francisco design doyenne Barbara Stauffacher Solomon<\/a> inject additional fun for the mere cost of paint.<\/p>\n

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(Image credit: Jason O’Rear)<\/p>\n

The building\u2019s outdoor spaces are also artful. There\u2019s a merry-go-round and a climbing wall that might be mistaken for an art installation in the main courtyard. Landscaping by GLS Landscape Architecture <\/a>is set low for stormwater management needs but the effect is adventurous. There are two murals on the building by local artists, a floral nod to the area\u2019s hippie heyday facing the inside of the block by Sorell Raino-Tsui<\/a> and a more abstracted composition by Jenifer Wofford<\/a> along one facade.<\/p>\n

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(Image credit: Jason O’Rear)<\/p>\n

In addition to the daycare centre, the building also includes retail space, which is rare for such projects but was intentional to continue Haight street\u2019s retail corridor; the city\u2019s legendary Amoeba Music is right next door.<\/p>\n

The project is also achieving a great deal of good. Every unit was leased before it even opened. Thirty-two units were set aside for formerly-homeless residents and 32 units for Section 8 tenants. It contains a comparatively large number of three bedroom units for families. Eligibility for the remaining apartments was set at 60 percent of the area\u2019s median income.<\/p>\n

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(Image credit: Jason O’Rear)<\/p>\n

730 Stanyan marks the first entirely-affordable housing on San Francisco\u2019s west side. The building might prove a model in other regards, \u2018This project was the first 100 percent affordable development [in the city] to use precast-concrete as the primary fa\u00e7ade system to reduce the overall construction schedule,\u2019 Wang says.<\/p>\n

Affordable housing is so necessary it almost doesn\u2019t matter what it looks like; everyone wins when the result is this attractive.<\/p>\n