S.F.’s newest office tower shows poise in a time of flash gallery_thumbnails_photo|photo-7144382|article-gallery-5894152|1 gallery_thumbnails_photo|photo-7144383|article-gallery-5894152|2 gallery_thumbnails_photo|photo-7144384|article-gallery-5894152|3 gallery_thumbnails_photo|photo-7144387|article-gallery-5894152|4 gallery_thumbnails_photo|photo-7144401|article-gallery-5894152|5 gallery_thumbnails_photo|photo-7145102|article-gallery-5894152|6 Amid the craze for contorted drama that passes too much for architecture these days, San Francisco’s newest office tower comes as a decided relief. It’s 27 stories of silvery gray glass, sliced at each corner to taper upward like an obelisk, smooth as plastic wrap. At one end there’s a small public plaza tucked beneath the tower but open on all sides. The poised newcomer at 535 Mission St. is barely a nudge as skyscrapers go. Nor is it a masterpiece. Look on it instead as an urbane addition to the vertical scene, a good neighbor on the ground — and a reminder that, architecturally, a little restraint can go a long way. The saga of how this high-rise came to be is more complex than the design. Though the opening was held this week — the online real estate research firm Trulia occupies one-third of the space — construction began in 2008. But the economy ran out of steam as piles were being driven into the earth, and the site spent several years in limbo as a fenced-off gravel lot before Boston Properties purchased the project early in 2013 and brought it back to life. That time lag explains the new tower’s all-glass skin, which was designed by the San Francisco office of the firm HOK at a time when the look was coming into vogue. It’s the same era that produced nearby 555 Mission St., a squat green 33-story box that’s a stone’s throw away, and the two clover-leaf Infinity condominium towers near the Embarcadero.Fitting in at ground level What’s surprising now is that instead of being dated, 535 Mission has real relevance for a point in the city’s history when yet another batch of big buildings is in the works. For starters — literally — the tower fits in well at ground level. The development included the transformation of Shaw Alley, with concrete pavers, long granite benches and flowering pear trees. Fire trucks will be able to pass through, but otherwise this will be a people-only zone open around the clock. Nor does 535 Mission overwhelm the alley. Quite the contrary: The tall lobby, with its clear glass wall, is pulled back 7 feet from the tower above, so the perceived width of the alley is enlarged. This impression is amplified by the wonderfully site-appropriate public art by Napa’s Gordon Huether, “Applique Da Parete,” which cloaks the inner wall of the lobby with white granite in various sizes and textures. It’s a nice call-and-response to the brick wall of the building from 1906 on the other side of Shaw, home to Salt House restaurant. As for the tower, it slices inward at each corner along Shaw. This signals the entries to the lobby, yes, but also opens up views to and from the alley. When work on the space is finished next month, the result should be a fresh example of how the corporate and public realms can coexist. This will become more apparent in 2017, when a major entrance to the new Transbay Transit Center is to open at Shaw’s south end. Where the base of 535 Mission blends with the surroundings, the tapered form above is a discreet show unto itself — attracting attention not by height, but with a simple set of inward moves that draw the eye. Essentially this is a long box, straight walls rising on all four sides of the thin site, with the chamfered corners emphasizing verticality. Those diagonals set 535 Mission apart from its more rectilinear neighbors by visually wrapping the new high-rise in open sky, a precious commodity these crane-filled days. The local forerunner to this approach is the Transamerica Pyramid, now the city’s tallest building. The two are nothing alike in terms of actual design, but each taps into the power of minimalism. By pulling in on themselves, they pull you in too. This restraint goes against the current trend, where would-be high-profile buildings are designed to grab attention. Asymmetric windows, or forms that pivot and joust, are the rage. A mixed-use complex proposed for Market Street has a design by Danish phenomenon Bjarke Ingels with mid-rise buildings that look like chic glaciers. The 5M project, proposed alongside The Chronicle by the development team of Forest City and Hearst Corp., would adorn towers with stamped concrete, recycled bricks and bars of metal in various colors. The list could go on, but you get the idea. Cutting edge or needless commotion? You be the judge. By contrast, 535 Mission shows less still can be more. The unusual but understated form is emphasized by the sleek glass skin, where sometimes, especially near dusk or dawn, each side reads as a single blue or silver pane. The lone flourish is a flare at the summit, but you don’t notice it except from certain angles to the north.Doesn’t feel garish Again, this isn’t a masterpiece. The all-glass skin lacks the depth of masonry, the tactile warmth found in older high-rises. Nor is there the exquisite precision of another glass high-rise on the block, Pelli Clarke Pelli’s 560 Mission from 2002. But 535 Mission is a glass tower that doesn’t feel garish, a corporate shaft that doesn’t feel like it was made in Manhattan. And as more and taller buildings rise nearby, its virtues will only become more apparent.John King is the urban design critic for The San Francisco Cronickle. E-mail: jking@sfchronicle Twitter: @johnkingsfchron
Posted on: Sat, 15 Nov 2014 02:24:30 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015