Mint Plaza

Sherwood’s work of converting the historic Old Mint in downtown San
Francisco into a park and public plaza set the development standards for
subsequent green street design in the city. The stormwater runoff from the plaza collects in a ‘rain garden’, and then filters to a level far exceeding then current City standards. Additional runoff is filtered through the plaza porous pavers into a grove of paper bark maples at the eastern end of the plaza, preventing virtually all plaza runoff from entering the City’s overloaded sewer system. By delaying, cleansing, and retaining runoff on site, these combined features work to protect the long-term health of the Bay, and propel San Francisco towards a more sustainable future.