Valencia Gardens Hope VI Family Housing
Mission Head Start Day Care Center
San Francisco, California
This planned unit development consists of 260 townhouse units on a five-acre site in the heart of San Francisco’s Mission District. This is a redevelopment of the original Valencia Gardens first constructed on this site in 1941 by the San Francisco Redevelopment agency. The design focus for the new Valencia Gardens is to create a fully-functioning and accessible community of multi-ethic and multi-generational families and seniors.
The process of revitalizing the Gardens was the result of an innovative collaboration between the non-profit developer, Mission Housing Development Corporation, the current residents, and the San Francisco Housing Authority. One of the goals of the rehabilitation project was to secure and energize this fragile block and sector of the Mission District. The site has been reorganized as an urban block with interior public streets to be used for recreation and socialization. Open spaces include semi-private stoops and porches.
Facilities include a senior center, day care center with adjacent outdoor play area, a play area designed for the needs of younger children and a community court, which has been designed to feature eight sculptures of animals by the distinguished sculptor Benny Bufano. The sculptures, acknowledged as some of the best works of Bufano, were retained and restored from the original Valencia Gardens site.
