1150 Clay: 12th Street Plaza + Roof Terrace

1150 Clay: 12th Street Plaza and Roof Terrace is a 178 unit residential building located at an urban infill site in Downtown Oakland. The project includes a roof terrace facing SW for tenants of the building as well as a public plaza which extends to the east on top of an existing parking garage. The plaza at 1150 Clay Street in Downtown Oakland asserts that even in our most formal business districts, people enjoy flexible outdoor space to play sports, enjoy art, connect to nature, and invent their own ways of using space—sometimes all at the same time. The design reimagines a narrow garage rooftop and creates conversation on all sides with views to borrowed landscapes. A simple organization of space connects to adjacent landscape and buildings while also drawing your eye upward to sky. The environment transforms from morning into evening with a light sculpture, by local Oakland artist Ben Trautman, that equally celebrates daytime shadows and evening illumination using shifting colors that highlight the fluid shapes of the sculpture. A large canopy with jaunty angles points towards surrounding taller buildings. Long bars of planting provide greening and a buffer from the traffic. This location fills in a missing tooth near the convention center and makes walking to BART a memorable experience. The design creatively repairs and reimagines this neglected site while also improving the experience of the entire block.

Location: Oakland, CA
Client: Strada Development Group
Project Size: 1.25 acres
Status: Completed Fall 2020
Role: Landscape Architect
Collaboration: HKS, Thorton Tomasetti, Architectonica, Kennerly Architecture, Ben Trautman