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E*Trade 123
San Francisco
STUDIOS Architecture
South of Market warehouse hosts funky
e-commerce business
© Michael O'Callahan |
For more photos click on 'photos
& drawings' above.
To see the people and products
behind this project click on 'people & products.'
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Conversion of an aging coffee warehouse
into facilities for an Internet-based banking and stock trading
company reassesses common assumptions about what financial
services offices should look like. This project, located in
San Francisco’s South of Market District, across from the
new San Francisco Giants baseball stadium, consists of eight
levels, six above grade, with variable floor heights and columns.
A railroad spur runs through its ground level, containing
an integral ramp in its sloping concrete floor.
Several interventions dramatically changed
the atmosphere of this brick building. To the side of the
main lobby, a large light well rises from sub-basement to
the mezzanine, making the two below-grade levels surprisingly
bright. A large wood and metal staircase with a curved bridge
runs over much of the lobby. At its back stands a glass and
metal enclosed ramped corridor to office and conference areas
that spans the length of the floor, creating a strong axis.
Some parts of the corridor are cut back to reveal pebble-filled
basins. Two conference rooms, one open, the other enclosed,
float over the former railroad spur, perpendicular to the
main corridor. Large window walls sit behind the conference
rooms and enclose the former railroad entrances; they lend
an urban atmosphere to the interiors.
Three different office furniture systems
accommodate varying needs and provide flexibility. Touch down
spaces and small private offices that can be used by management
for extended stays provide balance in this extroverted, open
work environment. Carefully considered design details, along
with an imaginative use of the three-dimensionality of the
building’s spaces and the incorporation of the structure’s
historical heritage, make the E*Trade offices an outstanding
modern office design.
Formal name
of building:
E*Trade Offices
Location:
King Street, San Francisco
Gross square
footage:
148,000 sf on eight stories
Owner:
E*Trade Securities Inc.
Architect's
firm:
STUDIOS Architecture
99 Green Street
San Francisco, CA 94111
Tel: (415) 398-7575
Fax: (415) 398-3829
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