Last night Studio Gang Architects unveiled designs of their first ever building in San Francisco, a 400 foot tall residential tower with an undulating, twisting facade. Inspired by the bay windows of older local buildings such as 450 Sutter Street, Studio Gang have added a twist (literally) to the typology with incremental rotations of the 90-degree bays running vertically up the facade.
Read on for more details of the design
"What I like about tall buildings (aesthetically) is what you do with the height, the incremental moves along the way," Jeanne Gang told the San Francisco Chronicle. "It's not just the extrusion of a single form from bottom to top." The combined effect of these twists is an undulating facade which ripples its way up the structure.
The proposed height for the building is 400 foot, however San Francisco zoning regulations currently limit the height of buildings in the area to a mere 300 foot. To gain approval, these zoning restrictions would have to be overturned by the city's Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors. Fortunately, the Citizen Advisory Commission already seem receptive to the idea, voting 7-1 in favour of continued study for both 300- and 400-foot versions of the design.
The exterior skin of the building will be completed in masonry tiles, however Gang added that the precise material is still being researched: "We want something light in color, whether it's terra-cotta or something else. I've been coming through the Bay Area for years, and it's so light and colorful. That's the feel I wanted."
If approved, the earliest possible date for the start of construction is pegged at 2016.
Story via the San Francisco Chronicle
Architects
Location
Folsom Street, San Francisco, CA, United StatesProject Year
2014Photographs
Courtesy of Studio Gang Architects
