PROXY is a temporary open space two vacant parcels in the heart of San Francisco’s Hayes Valley neighborhood. A placeholder for more permanent development, PROXY employs a more nimble model for development—a flexible urbanism—for the world’s rapidly changing cities.

As the architect, developer and curator, ENVELOPE created PROXY as a space for thoughtful experimentation: a means to broaden public perception of the city as a more open and playful construct. We conceived PROXY with its short lifespan in mind, and as an investigation of the potential of impermanence—one that values presence and community, and seizing each successive moment.

Since 2011, PROXY’s open framework of temporary structures has been doing just that, hosting a rotating offering of events, art, start-up retail, and local food—modeling an organic interchange between people, architecture, and the city. Adding the Walk-in Theater in 2015, PROXY transformed yet again, into an arts institution unbound by walls. Today, PROXY presents a pioneering, free outdoor program of independent film, art and music, working in partnership with our nonprofit affiliate, .

Although inspired by Archigram’s "Instant City," PROXY was born out of neighborhood activism. In 2009, Hayes Valley was a long-struggling neighborhood on the brink of transformation; the removal of the 1950s-era Central Freeway had ended an era of blight and freed up parcels for much-needed housing. When recession threatened to stall development for years, the community sought for vacant sites. Proposed initially as a three-year activation, PROXY now will remain a neighborhood presence through 2026.