Project One (San Francisco)

Project One was an intentional, community of place, sometimes described as a technological commune, in San Francisco, California, U.S. Located in an abandoned candy factory warehouse, the community lasted from 1971 to 1980 and was the first "warehouse community" in San Francisco. Project One was an important part of the counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s and housed dozens of artisans, sculptors, filmmakers, and technology organizations. The community had no formal organizational structure and was governed by a voluntary weekly meeting of members who made decisions based on a consensus of those present.

Project One was initiated by architect Ralph Scott, a former student of Buckminster Fuller, and it rapidly became an interdisciplinary learning environment. Central to the concept was Symbas Alternative High School and a number of anchoring organizations which, in addition to their individual missions, served as work-study environments for the students. One of these, Resource One, conceived as a people's computer center with a donated XDS-940 mainframe computer, became the first public computerized bulletin board system (bbs) and home to Community Memory Project established in 1973 and created by Efrem Lipkin, Mark Szpakowski, and Lee Felsenstein, who played a central role in the development of the personal computer.

When this abandoned warehouse was first leased in 1970 , all previous internal walls and structures had been removed. It was completely empty except for the structural supporting columns that held the four stories up. There was also a penthouse. The building was constructed with steel reinforced concrete and had a total floor space measuring 84,000 square feet. When it was first occupied, the people who lived and worked there designed and built all the walls, hallways, office and living spaces. As not all had previous skills in construction and remodeling there was a lot of on-the-job training, reflecting a strong do-it-yourself ethic which was common in the counterculture. Since there were a wide variety of skills available within the community it was rarely necessary to hire outside contractors.

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