The Switchback Exchange
An inventive freestanding Venice–Berkeley cooperative market shaped as an inhabited switchback bridge on flat ground. Two long, parallel shallow ramps run front-to-back with an open narrow slot between them, both rising from separate front entrances to a broad shared rear landing one story above ground. Together they form a continuous up-and-down trading loop. The ramps are broad pedestrian galleries with full redwood guards, each supported by a reinforced-concrete spine and transverse piers faced in reclaimed brick. Open brick-faced arches beneath the higher rear halves make a public cross-passage; low front undercrofts are closed storage with plank doors. The rear landing has a stout supported edge, not a cantilever without columns.
Four compact timber shop modules line the outside edge of each ramp, their thresholds set on level inset platforms while the walking path rises alongside. Each module has its own low clay-tile gable whose ridge runs across the ramp, so eight separate rooflets climb toward the rear in a conspicuous sawtooth silhouette. Do not place a continuous roof over the whole building. Shops have folding gray-green counters and doors toward the galleries, weathered horizontal plank sides, and narrow clerestory windows on their outward backs. The upper rear landing is an open exchange porch beneath one slightly broader tiled pavilion roof, supported by braced redwood posts. Brick loading bays and a modest external service stair articulate the rear facade. The front reads as two low open ramp mouths separated by the central slot; the outer sides reveal successive stepped timber shops over a strengthening brick base. Use sparse book stacks, produce crates and repair benches to explain the economy without clutter or signage. Reused stone protects only thresholds and pier feet.