Silicon Valley, San Francisco, CA

The hypothetical project, The Sentinel Link, is a high-density, seven-story residential complex designed for the NASA Research Park, directly addressing the unique acoustic and programmatic demands of the Moffett Field site. The design segregates the program into two distinct residential blocks, one for students/interns and one for staff/engineers, to foster dedicated community identities. This split massing is unified by a central, multi-story, curved Acoustic Atrium, which functions as the social and circulatory heart, housing the lobby, café, co-working spaces, and gym. Programmatically, the Atrium creates a vital zone of interaction, fostering the interdisciplinary collaboration central to the NRP mission. Technically, the project features a highly responsive architectural envelope: the Atrium’s mass acts as a critical acoustic buffer against the Eastern airfield noise, while the highly optimized residential facades manage solar heat gain and strategically employ the dominant West-to-East prevailing winds for passive cross-ventilation, a complex choreography of climate and sound mitigation within the strict 80-foot FAA height limit.