Project Details
- Project Name
- Harvey Milk Memorial Plaza
- Location
-
CA ,United States
- Architect
- Perkins Eastman
- Project Types
- Community
- Shared by
- Perkins Eastman
- Project Status
- Concept Proposal
Project Description
FROM THE ARCHITECTS (Nov. 1, 2017):
The San Francisco office of global architecture firm Perkins Eastman is honored to share the news that The Friends of Harvey Milk Plaza (FHMP) has reached a unanimous decision to award the redesign of the new Harvey Milk Memorial Plaza to our San Francisco team, and declared Perkins Eastman’s entry the winning submission in their months-long design competition.
The winning entry is a thoughtful yet bold approach to creating a walkable, active and transit-oriented civic space, aimed at transforming the current plaza and MUNI station at Castro and Market Streets into an enjoyable gathering spot for San Franciscans. The site of the Plaza is at the very corner where Harvey Milk (1930-1978) would gather and rally the Castro community to action, often speaking from atop his soapbox. “This design competition was a labor of love for us,” says Erich Burkhart FAIA, Managing Principal of Perkins Eastman’s San Francisco office. “Harvey Milk’s life and career were devoted to promoting equality and facilitating public discourse. It’s our hope that this design does justice to that legacy.”
The design is defined by a stepping and ramping amphitheater set within a field of LED candles, turning the western terminus of the Castro’s Market Street into a soapbox, not just for one, but for many. As visitors ascend the stairs they will navigate a timeline that details Milk’s storied journey from business owner and community activist to his historic election to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors; the timeline will include both important moments in Milk’s life as well as milestones in the continuing legacy of LGBTQ and civil rights advances that followed his assassination. This plaza not only creates a distinct gateway to the Castro neighborhood, but also allows the site to become a new architectural, yet human-scaled, urban icon for The City by the Bay.
“Harvey Milk epitomizes what it means to be human,” says Associate McCall Wood, who along with Associate Justin Skoda, jointly led the winning entry’s design team. “He was a stalwart for community activism, he encouraged debate and discourse, and he always strived to bring out the best in people. Through his spirit and work Harvey ignited a political awakening in the LGBTQ community. In order to best honor his memory, our goal was to create a place for the community, a place for people to be themselves and build solidarity. The hope is that visitors will be inspired to take up the mantle of Milk’s unfinished work and continue to fight for civil rights.”
Perkins Eastman will be leading a team of collaborators which includes Arup as structural engineer, Lightswitch SF as lighting designer, Propp + Guerin as graphic designer, and Cybele Lyle as artist. The team looks forward to collaborating further with FHMP, SFMTA, the Castro Community Benefit District, the San Francisco Arts Commission, San Francisco Public Works, AIA San Francisco, and Castro residents and merchants who provided invaluable community input during the competition phase.