San Francisco, California
This dramatic mixed-use high-rise development occupies an entire block on Rincon Hill in downtown, just a block from the Embarcadero, San Francisco Bay and adjacent to the Bay Bridge. The unique site affords the residents expansive views of the downtown skyline, the bay and the bridge.
The project is comprised of two high-rise towers, one 35 stories and the other 40 stories, positioned over a podium of 8-story low-rise buildings that define a central plaza. The project contains 655 condominium units and 20,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space. It also includes a high-end spa and fitness center, indoor pool, business center and club room.
The location and shape of the towers was strictly regulated by planning and zoning laws and for the need to maximize views, light and air between the buildings and into the central courtyard. Therefore, the towers are positioned at opposite corners of the site, with the low-rise buildings holding the street edges and filling out the block. The buildings are separated by generous outdoor passageways at each side that lead to a through-block walk through the plaza.
Each tower is square in plan and clad in a sleek floor-to-ceiling glass curtain wall that follows a fluid, sinuous curve, allowing for panoramic views from every corner unit. The tower’s shape also reduces their visual mass and creates maximum distance between them. The living spaces of the units are designed in an open-plan configuration that takes advantage of the dramatic views. Living area, dining area and kitchen are all one room, with the exquisitely-detailed kitchen islands and cabinets acting as space-defining furniture.
This project was at the leading edge of structural design by being one of the first in California to be designed using the “peer review” performance-based process, an alternative to the more cumbersome and expensive prescriptive code-based process. This allowed for a simplified and lighter structural system which greatly reduced the overall project cost and construction duration, and allowed for less structure and more vision glass at the building perimeter.
Designed under the direction of Christopher Coe while Managing Director and Director of Design of Arquitectonica Los Angeles.