Fulton is a long slice through San Francisco’s streetscapes of folded bay windows, terminating on axis with the dome of City Hall in the east. The site is close to this terminus, consisting of nearly an entire block bounded by Octavia, Laguna and Birch streets.

The exposed building façades facing the street continue the traditional texture of San Francisco’s bay windows expressed as a crenelated, all-glass curtain wall. This shimmering wall is reflective and liquid, like the bay, and bathes each unit in light. The long Fulton street façade is articulated with rhythmic repetitions and alternations of glass bay window silhouettes. It is divided into segments with incisions that expose the interior to the street. At mid-block, a cut through the massing forms an alley that links Fulton and Birch Streets through the block’s interior. Others cuts expose vertical or horizontal circulation in the housing bars.

The ground floor of the building is a large grocery store, entered from a court off of Laguna Street. Folding doors open all around the street façade on Fulton and Birch to create the atmosphere of an outdoor market food hall.

Two bars of housing are laid above the commercial ground floor with a landscaped courtyard between them. Each bar is four levels of double-loaded corridors, flanked by long units that maximize exterior exposure. Parallel to the corridors, services bars are arranged in long zones, with the habitable space beyond along the exterior glass walls. The service elements are compressed to maximize living areas, and separated with etched sliding glass to borrow light. While these units have the accommodations of flats, they offer the generous open space of lofts, where furniture defines domestic programs.

Parking is located in the basement, with off-street loading and additional parking for the ground floor retail space.

This architectural work was entitled by Natoma Architects and subsequently completed by Ian Birchall & Associates.