San Rafael has many desirable qualities as a lower density town. But, like many US cities, San Rafael faces a severe housing shortage, nearly 4,200 units behind in its RHNA goals. Its downtown is dominated by surface parking lots, yielding an underutilized and fragmented development pattern. This is made worse by the bifurcating Highway 101 and adjacent railroad tracks feeding the SMART station, which contribute to auto congestion and high vehicular speeds. A largely ignored canal runs east-west through the town, similarly contributing to a lack of cohesion within San Rafael’s downtown neighborhoods.
In this studio project, my team and I proposed increasing density, largely through fine-grain infill and redevelopment of underutilized sites, to unify four identified “quadrants” of San Rafael’s Transit Center district. A series of frameworks guided our design: 1) create a walkable, unified block pattern, 2) increase development density to create 2,000 housing units, 3) relieve freeway related bottlenecks by redistributing highway access and off-ramp locations, 4) center the canal and creek with added open space, and 5) democratize the right-of-way with traffic calming measures like bike lanes and on-street parking.
Framework: Create a walkable, coherent block pattern
Framework: Center the canal & Creek with added open space
Framework: Increase density to meet the RHNA deficit
The proposal targets mixed-use development, consisting largely of mid-rise stacked flats and 4-over-1 construction, relating to the building height of the adjacent BioMarin campus, stepping down to three-story walk-ups along the central canal to optimize access to views. Two taller towers create distinguishing landmarks from the freeway. The bus depot on 2nd & Heatherton is shifted one block north to create a direct pedestrian connection to the rail station. Existing retail, grocery store and light industrial uses are preserved as active ground floor functions, along with live-work space. Nearly six acres of open space are generated to activate the canal and under-freeway creek with a pedestrian and bike promenade, preserved shoreline habitat, parks, and flexibly programmed public space. To ease driving speeds, a one-way “couplet” along 2nd & 3rd streets is converted to two-way use. The Irwin Street off-ramp is shifted east to Grand Street, allowing for increased stacking distance and creating the opportunity to transform Grand Street into a tree-lined boulevard.
Land use proposal
