Architects: Stanley Saitowitz | Natoma Architects

Location: San Francisco, CA, USA

General Contractor: Clandmark Building Engineering Construction Inc

Project/Construction Manager: Clive McCarthy

Structural Engineer: GFDS Engineers

Project year: 2007

Photographs: Rien van Rijthoven

A robust Mission district industrial building, built in the 1930’s, has had many lives. First as a Lucky Strike warehouse, later an auto repair shop, and then in the 80’s the Capp Street Project Gallery. During the dot com era it was dolled up as a software company. Clive McCarthy bought the building in 2006 for his art factory and residence.

Our project involved the restoration of the original industrial warehouse and the removal of ugly mid 90’s additions, and the insertion of contained set elements of entry, powder room, kitchen, bathrooms, bedrooms, fireplace, and laundry to create a domestic landscape within the generous 10,000sf industrial space. These set pieces are smooth and refined, and contrast sharply with the rustic original building. To quiet the existing jagged backdrop, gray stain and paint are used as a camouflage which synthesize the disparate materials and elements.

The main studio is contained in a secluded space at the rear of the first level. Sometimes works spills out and occupies the lower level and central two-story volume. A series of spaces on the upper floor form a circuit around this volume. The living room is above the garage, at the street front, and flanked by a study and guestroom. A long dining room table continues to become the kitchen Island. Across the void is the laundry and another guestroom. The master suite occupies the rear of the building, with a sparkling white tub and sink area, and a shortcut to the studio below. A new central stair hangs in the void and links the work level to the living level above, and a rooftop garden at the top.