Challenge

What can a city do with the odd, neglected space under a freeway? In San Francisco where an abandoned three-acre parcel occupies space below several freeway off-ramps, the answer is Mission Creek Sports Park. It is a “whimsical yet functional community destination”, reports San Francisco Chronicle columnist, John King.

Approach

Who says that utilitarian buildings need to be boring? MKThink’s focus was the creation of two simple yet dramatic structures. The Kayak House securely stores 20 human-powered watercraft and its eye-catching design, with marine grade wood slats and translucent blue poly-carbonate skin. It pays homage to the historic wooden ships that used to ply Mission Bay. A Maintenance Pavilion, the underlying structure of which is a cost-effectively pre-engineered metal building frame, borrows a similar exterior vocabulary and stylishly houses public restrooms and park & recreation equipment. Serving as counterpoints to one another, the two structures challenge the preconception that utilitarian structures must be boring—something to be hidden rather than celebrated. Here both structures add dramatic and playful flair to an urbanscape otherwise dominated by freeway fly-overs, and serve as visual anchor points to the park. Both feature fanciful skins that reference the site’s nautical context.

“…this park beneath freeway ramps is a surprising joy…add a kayak storage building by MKThink that suggests a billowing tent of translucent blue plastic, and the result is genuinely unique. In other words, the kind of spot that makes a redevelopment district start to feel like a real neighborhood.”

- John King
“Decade in review: Top 10 in S.F. Architecture”
The San Francisco Chronicle, January 2010

Challenge

With a 150-year legacy of building strong kids, strong families, and strong communities, and with branches located on some of the most pristine sites in the world, it appeared that the YMCA of San Francisco had everything going for it. Yet, this organization lacked a compelling vision and risked loosing their long-term lease agreements at two prime sites, the Presidio in San Francisco and Point Bonita in Marin, if they didn’t come up with one before the deadline. The Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA), part of the National Park Service (NPS) wasn’t convinced that the YMCA was an appropriate tenant for its prime land.

Approach

MKThink Strategy was brought on to develop a Future Development Plan for the Presidio YMCA and a Plan for a Plan for the Point Bonita YMCA.

For the Presidio, MKThink Strategy had a two-pronged approach: constituent and partner outreach coupled with internal consensus building and scenario testing. The YMCA’s multiple stakeholders seemed to demand that the organization be “all things for all people”, but limited resources demanded a streamlined approach for the YMCA itself complemented by ancillary services provided through relationships with local partner organizations.

Internally, the board had been in a stalemate for over a year; it wasn’t until MKThink Strategy presented clear user and facility data analysis and definitive findings that the board was finally able to come to an agreement on the Presidio YMCA’s core mission and identity. Once that was in place, the strategic plan a 5-10 implementation and phasing approach quickly followed. This framework focused on the incredible location in the Presidio as the YMCA’s foundational asset and built programs around getting children and families outside and into the Presidio rather than emphasizing the fitness rooms, weight rooms, pools, and gyms that can be found in any Y across the country. This vision was something the GGNRA felt good supporting.

Point Bonita is one of the YMCA of San Francisco’s retreat spaces. Facing the loss of a lease, struggling to stay financially solvent, and operating far below capacity, Point Bonita needed an identity refresh, too. Point Bonita thought of itself as a more affordable retreat center in competition with the elite operation at Fort Baker and the Marin Headlands Center.

With MKThink Strategy’s market assessment and scenario training, the organization’s leadership team was able to see that Point Bonita did indeed have a unique niche to fill in the market place – a place for kids, youth, and their families to stay and play in the beautiful Marin Headlands. Bringing the focus back to the YMCA’s core mission helped Point Bonita stop renting out spaces to clients who didn’t fall in their target market and also cease throwing resources at stop gap renovations and other measures. Having a defined priority to serve one constituent group well, complementing rather than competing with the other offerings in the area, Point Bonita YMCA was easily able to secure another long term lease with the GGNRA. They were also able to use the available funds to make their existing facilities family friendly and make site improvements to ensure safety.

Results

With the clear guidance of MKThink Strategy, the YMCA of San Francisco was able to develop compelling visions for two incredible Bay Area sites, renew their emphasis on providing great places and programs for children and families, focus resource allocation on efforts to support their vision, and secure long-term leases with the GGNRA at the Presidio and in the Marin Headlands. Why run on a treadmill when you can be outside with your kids and a view of the Golden Gate Bridge?

Challenge

A national organization with worldwide reach, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) has a clear mission: to protect nature, for people today and future generations. Their diverse staff of over 550 scientists is spread throughout 50 states and 33 countries and works on countless initiatives. Within this grand organization, the California chapter has defined its own mission: to protect the Golden State. While unified behind this bold mission, those who work for TNC of California are often a loosely affiliated crew of temporary staff hired for specific projects and initiatives. Offices are established and then dismantled as need be, and the organization is in a nearly constant state of evolution. The California Chapter wanted to shift from a reactive to a proactive approach to change and develop a system for prioritizing facilities investments.

Approach

MKThink Strategy first categorized the California Chapter offices into tiers: hub offices – like Sacramento, San Francisco, and Los Angeles; and regional offices. Working with the core team from TNC, MKThink Strategy developed formulas for space needs within the hierarchy of office types. These formulas acknowledged the unique requirements of hub offices as well as the universal desire to support staff culture and a work anywhere mentality. By focusing on supporting activities (both those common across the tiers and unique within the tiers), the formulas were able to provide flexible approaches that can be applied to all current and future locations.

The strategy team also evaluated the utilization and occupancy rates at the various locations. They found that spatial allocations were mismatched to the activities of employees; private dedicated offices were assigned to individuals even though 65% of the workforce was out of the office 60% of the time. By correcting this inefficiency, constrained space could be freed up to support shared spaces and common activities, thereby optimizing the experience and performance of TNC employees. This move had the added benefit of facilitating a more collaborative culture, one of TNC’s other goals. With workers out in the field and teams spread across multiple sites, MKThink Strategy found that the collaborative zones helped people feel more connected to those with whom they shared physical work space, whether or not these people were on their project teams.

With the success of the assessment and planning work, MKThink Strategy’s scope expanded to the realm of design. The team developed furniture templates to use in conjunction with the flexible space planning formulas. Standardized office systems and furniture made the assembly and dismantling of temporary offices and the expansion of hub offices much easier and very efficient.

Solution

TNC is now poised to adapt to change in a nimble and organized manner. Working with MKThink Strategy enabled them to establish an organizational structure for spatial decisions, space planning formulas, and design templates. By identifying the essential physical environment components for communicating The Nature Conservancy’s vision while supporting its work anywhere culture and encouraging greater levels of interaction, MKThink Strategy brought cohesion to a formerly scattered organization and infused new energy into its inspiring mission.

Today, MKThink Strategy serves as TNC’s master facilities advisor and owner representative on all matters relating to real estate, site selection, and facilities design and planning.