The Kelsey Civic Center Affordable, inclusive, carbon-neutral housing in the heart of San Francisco
- Client The Kelsey, Mercy Housing
- Location San Francisco, CA
- Size Residential: 86,560 sq ft
- Completion Est. 2025
- Program Inclusive affordable housing community, courtyard, rooftop, shared spaces, bike storage, lobby
- Sustainability Targeting LEED Gold, All electric, reduced energy, reduced water, reduced carbon, circular economy, inclusivity and equitable design thinking, GPR rated, Part of the ILFI Affordable Housing Pilot using LBC Core
- Delivery Negotiated GMP
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Unit Mix
Studios: 80
2-Bed: 32
Total: 112
The Kelsey Civic Center is a new urban community that provides 112 homes to people of all abilities, incomes, and backgrounds in one of the nation’s most challenging and inequitable housing markets. Located across from San Francisco’s City Hall, it represents the largest addition to housing for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in the city to date. It will be the first fully-inclusive community of its kind.
Addressing a dire need
People with disabilities who experience poverty are priced out of housing and locked out of their communities at a much higher rate than nondisabled people—and this is certainly true in San Francisco. Twenty-five percent of the units will be dedicated to people with disabilities who use Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS). The project will offer 100+ units of affordable housing and all units will be open to those who qualify at 20%-80% of area median income, creating a truly mixed-income community.
Interdependence and support
In addition to the housing units, the Kelsey Civic Center offers a diverse program that includes community rooms, a garden designed to engage the senses, bicycle parking, and public spaces that foster a mutually supportive environment rooted in the ethos of interdependence and informal support networks. Live-in staff will help residents build relationships with one another, access services and events, and navigate the neighborhood and city.
Floor plans
Advancing the standards of universal design
Collaborating with Erick Miktitken, WRNS Studio gained insights into how individuals with sensitivities to light, smells, sounds, and other stimuli experience space. Design extends beyond the existing code, such as changes in floor materials at entries and balconies, acoustic ceilings that create an audible “map,” and curved circulation paths that enhance ease of movement. Vibrant colors denote different floors and program offerings, further enriching the user experience. This experience helped inform a new rating system for evaluating architects’ commitment to universal design, currently being authored by Erick Miktitken.
Healthy “lungs”
The program is organized around a large garden courtyard with seasonal plantings that promote biodiversity and urban agriculture. This courtyard acts as the building’s “lungs,” maximizing access to fresh air, daylight, and nature. Exterior circulation with planter balconies on every level promotes social interaction among neighbors. The courtyard and balconies sponsor a single-loaded layout with operable windows on both sides of each unit, allowing for cross-ventilation, enhanced shading, and ample natural light.
Heat recovery units with MERV-13 filtration in every home provide healthy and energy-efficient indoor environments. The project also features a vertical rain garden that serves as a biophilic landmark while filtering water. A sensory roof terrace provides breathtaking views and supports energy efficiency goals through a PV array, while capturing and pre-treating stormwater that flows down into the courtyard and is managed by an infiltration gallery under the pavement.
Community connection
The ground floor features a community space between Grove Street and the central courtyard. A large perforated-metal hangar door, which ceremoniously folds up to reveal a civic-scale artwork by local artist Joseph “JD” Green, was selected by the San Francisco Arts Commission from eleven different submissions interpreting disability inclusion and racial and social equity. The door’s metal screen, with varying hole sizes, recreates Green’s artwork, adding visual interest along the street while illuminating and texturing the interior.
Public Art by Joseph “JD” Green
Perforated bi-fold doors close during evening hours
Perforated bi-fold doors fold open during open hours
Site-specific design in San Francisco’s civic heart
The project sits at the heart of San Francisco’s Civic Center, directly across from City Hall. Design reflects the civic and historical context through patterns, materials, and scale. The building’s base, middle, and top complement the massing and organization of the neighborhood’s Neoclassical buildings, with a three-color cement board panel evoking Sierra Granite and anodized copper details echoing local accents. Double and triple-height windows ensure the building “holds its own” among larger neighbors. With the roof and courtyard visible from various vantage points, including the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the design team ensured the project is visually appealing to the broader community.
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