Golden State Warriors arena, at last, has a promising vision

Rendering released on Dec. 10, 2014 showing a southwest aerial view of the Golden State Warriors' proposed new arena in San Francisco's Mission Bay area. The arena would seat 18,000 people, have a view deck, and include a 24,000 square foot public plaza on the southeast side and a 35,000 square foot public plaza on the Third Street side. Completion is slated for the start of the 2018-19 NBA season. less Rendering released on Dec. 10, 2014 showing a southwest aerial view of the Golden State Warriors' proposed new arena in San Francisco's Mission Bay area. The arena would seat 18,000 people, have a view deck, ... more Photo: Images Rendered By Steelblue., Courtesy Of MANICA Architecture. Photo: Images Rendered By Steelblue., Courtesy Of MANICA Architecture. Image 1 of / 7 Caption Close Golden State Warriors arena, at last, has a promising vision 1 / 7 Back to Gallery

After two years of false starts, political drama and a round of toilet jokes, the vision of a San Francisco home for the Golden State Warriors is starting to look real — and it’s a promising vision at that.

But the most interesting aspect of the complex is the ripple effect it could have beyond its 12-acre site in the south half of Mission Bay.

Instead of an isolated object best viewed from a blimp, as was the case with the arena concepts for Piers 30-32 just south of the Bay Bridge, we’d have the concentrated drama of a major destination within an urban setting. It will share the block with two stubby towers and be flanked by commercial buildings, a stone’s throw from a hospital and a college campus. What’s been missing is what the arena can become: a catalyst to finally put the redevelopment district on the everyday map of San Francisco.

The latest version of what now is billed as an “event center” was unveiled earlier this month, a circular form that’s mostly flat. Portions of the roof would extend out from the main form with sliced angles that suggest motion, as if a giant unseen hand from above was giving the structure a good spin.

The main entrance would be a plaza from Third Street between South and 16th streets, where a Muni light-rail line stops en route to Market Street and the Financial District. The east edge would face a bayside park with a multi-tenant “food hall” and a smaller arena entrance.

Design still in works

When lead architect David Manica made his presentation earlier this month to the Mission Bay Citizens Advisory Committee, he stressed that the concept isn’t yet a full design. “We’re still working through this,” he told the room of 40 or so neighbors, describing such touches as the gleaming roofline as “a gesture, a signature element.” The skin would be light in tone; the proportion of glass to metal and metal to other materials is in flux.

The conceptual nature is even more apparent along Third Street, where the entry plaza would be flanked by office buildings, 90 feet high along the plaza and 160 feet on the outer edges. Though documents filed with the city show hints of angled corners, Manica said the forms are little more than placeholders while the arena gets designed.

For all its sleek curves, the proposed arena has a more conventional look than what was proposed for Piers 30-32 by Snøhetta, a firm founded in Norway and best known locally for the addition to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art now taking shape. Snøhetta co-founder Craig Dykers has billing as “senior design adviser,” but Manica and his Kansas City firm specialize in sporting venues.

A lot to like

Even at this stage, though, there’s a lot to like about what is in the works.

If you’ve spent time in Mission Bay, you know that the southern half can feel barren despite more than a decade of ribbon-cuttings. The UCSF Mission Bay campus turns its back both on Third Street and the residential blocks to the north. It’s also research-oriented, which means students in labs rather than lecture halls filled with undergraduates. The nearby structures have a research bent as well, with a self-contained air that would be more fitting in an office park than northeast San Francisco.

The arena project can shake things up — as a swirling silver counterpart to a static scene, and as an attraction that puts people on the streets during both day and night. The segregation of Mission Bay into two halves, one residential and one commercial, starts to break down. There also will be a renewed emphasis on Third Street, which too much of Mission Bay treats as a back alley despite the presence of the light-rail line.

While factors like this may not register from afar, the people who live there know the score. That’s why the reception at last week’s meeting was so positive: Several people gushed about the design but also the notion of action and life. In the words of one, “There is nothing down here that is for the residents.”

The same point is made by Tiffany Bohee, executive director of the city’s Office of Community Investment and Infrastructure.

Draw people to area

“This should really enliven the area, and bring people from across the city and region,” Bohee said. As for the addition of a sports venue to an area conceived in the mid-1990s as a blank slate to lure biotech firms, “this is the way cities work. No redevelopment plan can predict how cities and neighborhoods will change over 30 years.”

Nor could you predict that Dogpatch, the small neighborhood to the south that once felt as remote as could be, would emerge as a full-blown scene. More than 1,500 housing units are now proposed or under construction for the former industrial backwater.

Set for 2018-19 season

The goal of Warriors management is to receive approvals by next fall, with construction to be complete in time for the 2018-19 basketball season. There’s no visible political opposition — unlike the case on the Embarcadero, where the quest for a TV-friendly icon stirred fears of waterfront change that led to a successful ballot initiative in June that gave voters the final say over any project on port-owned land that seeks height above what now is allowed.

Walk around Mission Bay today and you’d be surprised: There are a half-dozen housing projects under construction or newly opened, centered on a new park with a children’s playground. The UCSF Mission Bay hospital complex opens its first phase in February.

Who knows? This time next year, Mission Bay might feel like a neighborhood after all.

John King is the San Francisco Chronicle’s urban design critic. E-mail: jking@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @johnkingsfchron