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Four buildings are interconnected to house the elegant showrooms of Mercedes Benz San Francisco.
Located at the corner of 8th and Bryant Streets in the South of Market area, the home of Mercedes Benz San Francisco was once a television production studio. In the late ’90s, Huntsman seismically retrofitted and renovated the building for a technology client venturing into the Internet-television market. In 2003, the building changed ownership again, and Mercedes Benz envisioned the building as a new showroom and expansion center for its existing dealership on Van Ness Avenue.
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Mercedes Benz wanted Huntsman’s design to enlarge the existing 50,000-square-foot facility to meet the dealership’s projected growth. The project consists of four independent buildings that house showroom, sales, administrative, service, and storage functions. Building A houses a dramatic two-story showroom with a cylindrical glass tower facing the intersection of 8th and Bryant Streets. The tower features new auto models and gives the building street presence and visibility along the nearby highway.
Large two-story glazed openings create a strong visual connection between the showrooms and the adjacent streetscape.
Building B is a slender, three-story glass-enclosed atrium that connects Building A and Building C showrooms, and serves as a media wall along the adjacent highway at the third story. Building C also houses the service department that features in-ground car lifts that maintain a clean aesthetic when not in use. Building D is the most intact of the existing buildings and contains the administrative offices and auto-parts department. The building features skylights and exposed wood beam ceilings to provide warmth and natural daylight for the administrative staff.
Mercedes Benz views its service department as an additional showroom and wanted customers to perceive it as such. An entire floor was added at the roof level, with an internal car ramp servicing each floor to increase the inventory of cars that Mercedes Benz could keep on site.
Formal name of building:
Mercedes-Benz of San Francisco Automotive Dealership
Location:
500 8th Street San Francisco,
CA 94103
Completion Date: June 2006
Gross square footage: 72,000 sq.ft.
Total construction cost: +/- $10,800,000.00 Million
Owner:
Mercedes-Benz of San Francisco
Architect:
Huntsman Architectural Group
50 California Street, Seventh Floor
San Francisco, California 94111
T:415.394.1212
F:415.394.1222
www.huntsmanag.com
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