PAE Engineers designed the building systems for the six-story Bullitt Foundation building Seattle that is one of the five “living buildings” PAE has worked on.

Blanca Torres
Reporter- San Francisco Business Times

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PAE Consulting Engineers Inc. wants to work on the first “living” building in San Francisco. They just need a developer or architect to hire them.

The Portland-based engineering firm opened its San Francisco office less than three years ago to bring its expertise in sustainable buildings to the market.

PAE specializes in sustainability practices such as zero net energy, where a building generates more energy that it uses, and living buildings, which are structures that capture and generate their own water supply and are not connected to a municipal sewer system.

The Bay Area is home a few zero net energy buildings like one in San Leandro, a industrial building retrofitted to house an electrical union training center, and the Exploratorium, which opened earlier this year in San Francisco.

But there are no living buildings in the Bay Area.

“We want to find people interested in this challenge,” said John Paul Peterson, senior associate with PAE’s San Francisco office. “Let’s make this happen here. We know the science can work.”

PAE has worked on five living buildings including one in downtown Seattle, a six-story office building for the Bullitt Foundation, that opened earlier this year. The firm designed a system that composts all the waste from toilets (people still flush, in case you were wondering) and has a its won rainwater reclamation system.

The building takes advantage of natural lighting, which is more challenging in Seattle than in San Francisco, uses geothermal radiant heating and cooling, and encourages occupants to take the stairs instead of elevators as much as possible.

Blanca Torres covers East Bay real estate for the San Francisco Business Times.

Article source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/real-estate/2013/09/pae-engineers-zero-net-energy-buildings.html

The Town School for Boys, a private school in Pacific Heights, reached an agreement last week with the Recreation and Park Department, which owns the 80,000-square-foot space, for a lease from August to July 2014 with a possible extension through September 2014. Rent will be $42,000 a month but the school will get two months rent-free in exchange for renovating the building. The Exploratorium most recently paid $490,000 a year in rent.

“The Exploratorium is very much a learning center and there are a number of classrooms and administrative spaces within the building,” said Nick Kinsey, Recreation and Park Department property manager. “It was clear that the space would work well for them with minimal adjustments.”

Temporary site sought

The school approached Rec and Park last year as it searched for a temporary location while the current school building underwent renovations. School trustee Alex Wong said the space fit the K-8 school’s needs and that many students and parents have enjoyed going to the Exploratorium.

“There’s just something magical about that site so it’s pretty exciting,” he said. “If we have to move the kids, I can’t think of a better place than the old Exploratorium.”

Between the time the Exploratorium leaves in March and the Town School moves in, Rec and Park will rent out the space for special events that could range from corporate functions to indoor soccer tournaments.

“There’s nothing worse than a building that’s not occupied to attract all sort of questionable activities,” said Jan Berckefeldt, executive director of the Maybeck Foundation, which protects the legacy of Palace of Fine Arts designed by architect Bernard Maybeck.

Since its construction for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition, the Palace of Fine Arts has been home to a phone book distribution center, indoor tennis courts and a garage for United Nations delegates’ limousines in the 1940s.

“It’s pretty much a wide-open space that offers all sorts of possibilities,” Berckefeldt said.

The Maybeck Foundation is offering advice to Rec and Park as it searches for a permanent tenant for the space starting in about a month. More than a dozen institutions, recreational clubs, art organizations and museums have already inquired about the space, said Kinsey, who added that multiple tenants could end up occupying the Palace of Fine Arts.

Lynn Sedway, a real estate consultant hired by the Maybeck Foundation, said an important factor in the long-term consideration is finding a tenant who will preserve the historic building as well as consider the impact on the neighborhood.

“Anything that generates a huge amount of traffic, anything that generates a huge amount of noise … that could cause a problem,” she said.

Possibilities for space

An advisory committee of public officials, neighbors and merchants has been meeting since the fall to discuss possibilities for the space, and some of the top concerns include limited parking and preserving a 982-seat theater in the building that takes up almost one-third of the space.

“The Palace of Fine Arts is a citywide asset but it’s also smack in the middle of a neighborhood,” said Supervisor Mark Farrell, whose district includes the neighborhood and a member of the advisory panel. “Having grown up two blocks away, it’s been a magnet for family and young children for decades and I’d like to see that continue.”

The Recreation and Park Commission will be briefed by the department Thursday on the process for identifying future tenants for the space.

Neal J. Riley is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: nriley@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @realdealneal

Article source: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/School-for-boys-to-lease-Exploratorium-4209885.php

In 1912, Richard Schirrmann, a teacher, created the hostel industry at the medieval Altena Castle in western Germany; the hostel is still operating today. The first hostel in the United States opened in 1934, and now more than 4,000 are operated by Hostel International. The one at Fort Mason, with 170 beds, opened in 1980.

WHO, WHERE, WHEN

Fort Mason, which was built in the 1800s to defend the coast, was named for Richard Barnes Mason, the first and only military governor. The Golden Gate was given its name for its similarity to the Golden Horn in Istanbul; it was named before gold was discovered in California. During World War II, the fort was responsible for shipping 1.5 million soldiers to the South Pacific .

RISE AND FALL

In front of the hostel, a “bridge thermometer,” created by the nearby Exploratorium science museum, measures the height of the Golden Gate Bridge. In cold weather, the steel suspension cables tighten and may cause a rise of up to 5 feet; in warm weather the bridge can drop 11 feet.

WILLING TO DIE FOR IT

East of the hostel, a sign commemorates the death of Senator David Broderick in a duel with David Terry, chief justice of California, in 1859. Broderick was staunchly antislavery. The pro-slavery Terry blamed Broderick for his loss in an election. Duels were illegal in San Francisco, so the match was held outside city limits, though Broderick died here three days later.

HOSTEL NEIGHBORS

A private room at the 10-bed hostel runs from $65 to over $100. Homes neighboring the hostel in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area rent for up to $12,000 per month.

AMBIENCE

In the common room, visitors chat in several languages, though many stare at cellphones or laptops. Quiet time begins at 11 p.m., but foghorns sound through the night. Jeff Coquery, 23, from Paris, wore a T-shirt reading “no phone, no address.” It was the first day of his first solo trip abroad, and he was deliberately off the grid.

lrafkin@baycitizen.org

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/us/fishermans-wharf-youth-hostel-in-san-francisco.html