San Francisco Unified School District Bond Master Planning and Green Schoolyard Projects

BAY TREE DESIGN was hired by San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) in Spring 2006 to help the District implement their Green Schoolyard Program which represents a fundamental paradigm shift in the way the school district approaches schoolyard design, development and management. The twenty-nine green schoolyard master plans we designed for this project are intended to be models of sustainable urban design, provide hands-on resources for outdoor teaching, and offer a variety of recreational opportunities that foster engagement, joy, beneficial risk and wonder.  BTD’s founding principals, Sharon Danks and Lisa Howard, worked with the school district to develop their green schoolyard program and engage SFUSD’s school administrators, project managers and school communities (adults and children) in the idea of greening school grounds.

In 2011 SFUSD sought to build on the successes and aspirations of the 2006 Bond projects. BAY TREE DESIGN worked with the District and local school communities on the 2011 Bond’s pilot program, Starr King Elementary School, as well as Webster and McKinley Elementary Schools. Starr King, called GreenSchoolyard 2.0, had the visionary goal of including stormwater management, rainwater harvesting, place-based plant and tree selection, and an environment for enriching play and learning as SFUSD’s first public school in San Francisco to comply with SFPUC’s stormwater regulations. Utilizing the community participation techniques from Starr King and building on SFUSD’s growing guidelines for greening schools BAY TREE DESIGN worked with two school communities to realize their dreams for their yards. The greening for each school followed Modernization work and involved envisioning a full build out of each yard with strategic construction for the framework of the initial key greening elements.

Project Information

Client: San Francisco Unified School District

Location: 29 schools in San Francisco, CA

Size: 55 Acres

Status: Completed 2015-2017