The Kelsey Civic Center

Located steps from San Francisco City Hall, The Kelsey Civic Center is a groundbreaking model for inclusive, affordable urban housing. As the project’s civil engineers, Sherwood Design Engineers played a central role in shaping one of its most innovative features: a first-of-its-kind stormwater management system designed to meet the city’s rigorous environmental standards on a dense, highly constrained site.

Faced with minimal open space, Sherwood designed an infiltration gallery beneath the building’s central courtyard—an area that not only manages stormwater on-site but also serves as a vibrant amenity for residents and the public. This multi-functional courtyard is both a shared urban space and an essential part of the site’s water infrastructure.

The 8-story building’s rooftop storm drains are routed through catch basins and into the StormTech infiltration chambers—each with a capacity of approximately 2,600 gallons. Water infiltrates quickly through the site’s sandy soil, reducing runoff and keeping water on-site as much as possible. In rare, extreme rain events, overflow is directed safely into the city’s stormwater system.

Sherwood’s approach enabled compliance with San Francisco’s progressive stormwater standards while supporting the project’s broader sustainability and equity goals. Designed by WRNS Studio and aligned with C40’s Reinventing Cities initiative, The Kelsey transforms a previously underutilized urban parcel into a low-carbon, accessible, and welcoming community for people with and without disabilities of all incomes and backgrounds.

This project underscores that high-performance infrastructure and thoughtful design can coexist without compromise and that sustainability and affordability are not mutually exclusive.