Foundry Square
San Francisco
STUDIOS Architecture

A rejiggered technoburb workplace takes advantage of downtown amenities

© Tim Griffith

For more photos click on 'photos & drawings' above. To see the people and products behind this project click on 'people & products.'

By Lisa Findley

Developer Bill Wilson’s high architectural ambitions for Foundry Square were clear at the outset when he hired Studios Architecture, then retained Jennings to serve as a consulting architect. And the site he put together wasn’t just another vacant lot. Wilson obtained land on four corners of the intersection of First Street and Howard, the long-empty site of a foundry. The busy intersection is wrapped by looping elevated ramps dropping from the Bay Bridge to the bustling TransBay bus terminal next door.

Even at 1.25 million square feet, a mid-rise project can’t assert its identity the way a high-rise can—especially in a location outside the traditional downtown core. The architects gave presence to the four-building complex through gestures that unified the four sites while recognizing the unique aspects of each. Wilson originally targeted technology and multimedia tenants, who already were comfortable in the neighborhood, with Class A office space that included underground parking, ground-floor retail, and that downtown rarity, public open space. Wilson also thought tenants would appreciate efficient and environmentally conscious building systems.

The architects approached the design of Foundry Square on three scales simultaneously: that of the sidewalk, the street, and the city.

The architects created breathing space for the commuter throngs passing through the intersection by carving a plaza at each corner. (The open space was required by the city, but Studios could have simply pushed it all onto one site.) The result is a huge implied square that straddles the intersection. A grid of young trees planted on each corner, along with stone planters offering wide edges for sitting in the sun, enliven these spaces. A café opens onto the largest plaza from a colonnade of slender columns. The result is a handsome, 200-foot-square, glass-lined outdoor room that cars and people pass through. In a city where most buildings resolutely hold the corner, this petite piazza surprises the passerby.

The first seven floors hug the street edges up to the height of the old warehouse buildings that still dot the neighborhood. Glassy three-story pavilions, set back, rise out of this hefty base. They reduce the apparent mass of the buildings and open to roof terraces with panoramic views. It’s easy to pick out the undulating roof profile of the eight-story project from the Bay Bridge, the TransBay Terminal bus ramps, and the high-rise buildings that loom only a block away.

Alternating recesses and projecting curtain-wall mullions not only give the facades a tactile depth and a comfortable scale, they shade the interior. A separate, external curtain wall veils the elevations that line the square. These strategies result in a building envelope that significantly exceeds the new California Title 24 energy-performance requirements. A 30-foot-square concrete structural grid and office floor-to-slab heights of 12 feet offer appealing and flexible space. For warehouse-chic tenants, an energy-conserving underfloor HVAC system permits the unobstructed concrete ceilings to be left exposed. On the desirable top floor, the ceilings soar under the roof’s curves. A mezzanine is tucked under the highest pitch.

See the June 2003 issue of Architectural Record for full coverage of this project

Formal name of Project:
Foundry Square

Location:
San Francisco

Gross square footage:
Foundry Square:1,520,000 sq ft
Building 2 (Phase one) 600,000 sq ft
Building 4 (Phase two) 280,000 sq ft

Owner:
Wilson Investors - California in Partnership with
KSW Properties and Equity Office Properties Trust

Architect:
STUDIOS Architecture
99 Green Street San Francisco, CA 94111
Telephone (415) 398-7575
Fax (415) 398-7763
www.studiosarch.com