Prado Outdoor project

San Francisco Alfresco

San Francisco Alfresco is a city terrace project, and San Francisco is its own climate problem. Summers are cool, fog moves through most mornings and evenings, and wind is a daily condition rather than an occasional one.

Persistent moisture without much drying heat is exactly what causes mildew in cushions and rot in poorly chosen timber. The specification leans on materials that manage water rather than resist it: quick-dry reticulated open-cell foam that lets water pass straight through instead of holding it, Sunbrella solution-dyed acrylic that is mildew resistant by construction, and Grade A teak heartwood whose natural oils keep it sound in continuous damp.

Wind drove the rest. Furniture was chosen with enough mass to stay put on an exposed terrace, and the layout uses the building and planting as shelter so seating is usable on the cool evenings that make up most of a San Francisco summer. Cushions come from our South Carolina program, cut and sewn with GORE TENARA thread so seams do not become the first failure point in a wet climate.

Specified for this project

• Quick-dry reticulated open-cell foam for continuous damp
• Sunbrella solution-dyed acrylic, mildew resistant by construction
• Grade A teak heartwood, sound in persistent moisture
• Weighted, wind-stable pieces for exposed city terraces
• GORE TENARA PTFE thread so seams outlast the fabric