The Green Room: Designed to bring out the child in you

A leafy roost for multi-tasking diners

Architect EB Min of Min Design entered a competition—sponsored by Mission Rock Partners, who transformed land leased by the San Francisco Giants near the ballpark into a mixed-use neighborhood of pedestrianized streets. It was to design one of six “street rooms” there, she recalls. A few months later, in early 2023, she got the news: her proposal—one of the winners—would need to accommodate dining, like parklets do.

Her artful installation evolved into The Garden Party, an elliptical, white powder-coated tubular steel gazebo bolted onto a base plate. Inspired by latticed Victorian-era conservatories, the modern 378-square-foot enclosure stands 11 feet high and tapers down to 5 feet. Its embracing form, built around existing Chinese pistache trees that change color seasonally, will gradually be enveloped by a lacy star jasmine vine.

“It’s a living thing,” Min says.

With arched openings, Min’s roughly $100,000 see-through “room” is a de facto vestibule for the multi-use building beside it. Within each end of this curved folly, slatted wood benches offer seating; a wraparound rail on the outside is a standing-height bartop to place drinks.

And, “if you hang out longer,” Min adds, “there’s even a footrest.”