PRESS.
Over the years PROXY has been covered in numerous articles, media pieces, and publications, such as Architect Magazine, Architectural Record, Financial Times, Interior Design, NPR, The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, The San Francisco Standard, and more. Take a look at the history of PROXY in the press!
Original render of PROXY, night view
2024
Shipping container buildings may be cool — but they're not always green
Containers are also an attractive alternative to traditional construction materials such as cement — cement manufacturing produces the world's third-highest level of planet-warming pollution — and wood, which requires cutting down trees and growing them again.
NPR Jan 15, 2024
2023
S.F. neighborhood lashes out at housing development planned for de facto ‘town square’
A long-simmering dispute about the future of a popular Hayes Valley gathering space is boiling over with San Francisco Supervisor Dean Preston vowing to make good on a decades-old promise to develop the parcel as affordable housing while neighbors organize to preserve a place they argue has become a de facto town square.
San Francisco Chronicle Aug 7, 2023
Everything was bananas at the Hayes Valley Carnival
Between the hot dogs and San Francisco-made ice cream, a few carnival game booths and face painting, the atmosphere was excited and jubilant. And everyone who I talked to remarked about the importance of neighborhood events as a space and time to bring your kids, meet your neighbors and enjoy a sunny weekend afternoon.
The Bold Italic Jul 18, 2023
Hayes Valley’s Supervisor is Pushing to Get Rid of PROXY. It’s a terrible idea.
There’s an alternate future here where the community reconfigures PROXY as something more permanent and even more multi-functional. Think of the world’s greatest piazzas, in Venice, London, Paris, and New York.
Ben Zotto Jun 24, 2023
Boom loop: San Francisco’s Hayes Valley is riding arts to recovery
“Patricia’s Green and Proxy are the heart of Hayes Valley,” Burnham said. “People come out to be together, to be seen, to enjoy this.”
The San Francisco Standard Jun 21, 2023
2016
Hayes Valley renaissance in full brew with beer garden
“We didn’t try to reinvent anything,” [Hulme] said. “If Hayes Valley were suddenly in Munich, this is what you would see.”
San Francisco Chronicle Oct 22, 2016
Walk-in becomes the new drive-in
“I think this is the coolest thing to ever happen in our neighborhood,” said Treseder Gorham, 26, an app maker. “It’s absolutely thrilling to have something so beautiful and fascinating here.”
SFGATE Mar 31, 2016
2015
Here's a Creative Solution for Revitalizing Abandoned Urban Spaces
As Burnham argues, Proxy is an example of how underutilized spaces can go a long way in helping a neighborhood grow and attract people from all walks of life to participate in the community.
INVERSE Oct 23, 2015
Urban-chic shipping pods catch on in Giants development
“What we’ve tried to do with Proxy is show people that a city can have short-term uses that help transform an area,” said Burnham, who is also an adjunct professor at California College of the Arts. “It’s a live experiment we’re overseeing, a space that’s different over time.”
San Francisco Chronicle Mar 17, 2015
2014
Outdoor Movie Theater And Pop-Up Fitness Hub Coming Soon
"It's really important this is a community project: something for people who live in Hayes Valley and surrounding neighborhoods."
Hoodline May 21, 2014
From no-man’s-land to must-see
“The trick is to get planners to understand that the city can change at a faster pace,” said Douglas Burnham, director of Envelope A+D architects which created Proxy, a pop-up project the size of two city blocks that includes a coffee shop, gallery space and a beer garden in the Hayes Valley Area of San Francisco. “These days we are used to information changing all around us but the city does not work that way. We have something like 54 permits for the project. Every time we do something it’s a new permit. The system isn’t really set up to move at this pace.”
Financial Times May 9, 2014
Top 5 spots to get a real feel for San Francisco
A freeway used to run through the heart of Hayes Valley. It’s amazing what happens when you remove something and new growth comes into an urban environment.
The Globe and Mail May 5, 2014
Temporary Urbanism: Alternative Approaches to Vacant Land
For city administrators facing tight budgets, temporary use projects can be a cost-effective strategy for dealing with vacant land that yields rapid results.
US Dept of Housing and Urban Development Apr 11, 2014
2013
A Streetcorner Serenade for the Public Plaza
A beer garden made out of freight containers on an empty plot turns out to be a lot more popular and better for a city than a sad corporate atrium with a few cafe tables and a long list of don’ts on the wall.
The New York Times May 31, 2013
10 Questions With… Douglas Burnham
There’s a social need for variety and heterogeneity in cities, driven by people. I think San Francisco needs more of this, and all cities, for that matter. People are interested in having a serendipitous experience, in lovely surprises. The question we’ve been asking is, “How do you really drive that?” The answers we’ve come up with are centered around providing the appropriate level of engagement.
Interior Design Mar 19, 2013
The Emergence of Container Urbanism
In a larger sense, Proxy is an exemplar of today’s burgeoning DIY — do-it-yourself — urbanism movement. Gathering steam over the past half decade, DIY projects tend to be small, temporary and portable. They occupy unused or underutilized terrain. Their physical plants reuse elements from older building or infrastructures or consumer products. Their instigators take in a wider cast of community players than the usual architects, builders and investors.
Places Journal Feb 12, 2013
2012
Burnham believes the temporary project will be a model for a more nimble and responsive type of urbanism. “There needs to be a faster pace at which the city can change, because working on a 100-year time scale is no longer aligned with the pace of culture,” he says. “Proxy is quickly reframing the city and what people expect from it.” The project embodies Burnham's aim to make you rethink the building—or the entire neighborhood—with a simple but unexpected gesture.
Architectural Record Dec 2012
2011
Best Building, 2011: Proxy by Envelope A+D
As built, not as ambitious as the firm's first renderings, but hard-knuckled and gritty in the best sense, with a planned life expectancy of five years. To which we might add that Maybecks' iconic Palace of Fine Arts was temporary in 1915.
Curbed Dec 29, 2011
It’s Time to Rethink ‘Temporary’
The architecture that’s been making news is fast and fleeting: pop-up shops, food carts, marketplaces, performance spaces. And while many manifestations of the genre have jumped the shark (i.e., a Toys R Us pop-up shop), there is undeniable opportunity in the temporary: it is an apt response to a civilization in flux.
The New York Times December 19, 2011
Historically, vacant lots, empty storefronts and dirt plots waiting for development have blighted their surroundings and have dragged down property values. Proxy has demonstrated how positive changes can be made to a neighborhood; the challenge ahead is how to mitigate the losses when a popular project is eventually removed to make way for future development. Having explored and experienced the potential of the public realm, the neighborhood will demand more of the same in the future. The hope is that the project can change both public and bureaucratic perceptions of what is possible in San Francisco.
The Urbanist Dec 1, 2011
City's little boxes, but these look pretty good
But while it's here, enjoy an architectural work-in-progress that uses sturdy hollow metal to convey a core truth of big cities: often, what we savor aren't individual landmarks or buildings so much as the overall sense of place.
SFGATE Nov 13, 2011
2010
2 parcels in Hayes Valley may get a quick fix
"This idea of temporary habitability shows that San Francisco, which in development often is conservative, can be flexible and robust and leading edge," said Douglas Burnham, principal at Oakland's Envelope Architecture + Design. "We hope that this can become a positive economic model and an urban planning model."
SFGATE Aug 3, 2010
In one of his meetings with the Mayor’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development last year, Burnham was asked to consider a temporary use for his or any of the other Octavia lots. “Our first thought was, ‘That’s intriguing; they’re asking us for free work,’ ” recalls Burnham. “But it got us hypothesizing about potential programs, like an outdoor cinema, pop-up shops, food stands, gardens, urban living rooms with movable furniture, and so on.”
ARCHITECT May 24, 2010
2009
Efforts to turn empty lots to a glass half full
"We see it as an economic development activity," said Rich Hillis of the Mayor's Office of Economic Development. "If there's something exciting on those sites, it helps bring more interest and foot traffic."
SFGATE Sep 3, 2009