Not Dead Yet: San Francisco’s Creative Spaces Fight Back

When the American Conservatory Theater restored the Strand Theater, excessive attention to detail was paid. There is a “scar” on the floor to commemorate a demolished marble staircase, a neon sign restored at no small expense, and even the T-bars in a newly exposed wall received some special care. … “The goal was to make a space that engaged with the neighborhood as much as possible,” said Aaron Jensen, an architect on the project. “And it really brought life to a unique spot, and made this lobby almost a theatrical room in and of itself. It was immensely challenging, but it also framed the problem in a way that I don’t think you could have conceived of if you had a blank slate.”