SAN FRANCISCO—The owner of Panoramic Interests, a development firm that is dedicated to creating “dense, mixed-use, mixed-income” housing and work-spaces for the Bay Area since 1990, has generated new means to look at housing in an area with severe chronic homelessness.
Patrick Kennedy, the owner of Panoramic Interests and East Bay native, has used Smart Growth principles—mixed land usage to produce a variety of transportation choices, compact building designs to preserve more open space and natural beauty, and a range of housing opportunities to provide quality habitation to those of all income levels—to develop new modes of housing in the efforts of aiding San Francisco and the greater Bay Area’s housing crisis.
The innovative method of permanent housing is what Panoramic Interests coins the “MicroPAD”—a 160 square foot residential housing option that contains a private bathroom and kitchenette made of steel for an easier and stronger construction model. The steel exterior protects residents from flooding, rodent and insect infestation, and provides a double-walled soundproof experience.
MicroPAD’s can be relocated and are meant to provide a stable, and permanent mode of housing. MicroPAD’s are fully furnished storage units with high ceilings, natural light from substantial window height, and fresh-air exchange with filtered ventilation. According to the MicroPAD Executive Summary Sheet: “MicroPAD® buildings can be built on, or in the airspaces above, unused and underutilized city-owned lots, significantly reducing land costs.”
To learn more about Panoramic Interests ways of producing low-cost, sustainable, and multi-functional housing in San Francisco, visit: https://www.panoramic.com/projects/.
