Hacker Architects have unveiled new images showcasing plans to build the largest mass timber office building in North America. Working in collaboration Quezada Architecture for Brookfield Properties, the project is designed to be part of a 28-acre Pier 70 waterfront development at a historic shipyard property in San Francisco. The mass timber building is designed as a gateway structure with views of downtown, the bay, and nearby hills.
As Hacker notes, the Parcel A office building aims to capture the shipyard scale of San Francisco’s historic industrial waterfront, while creating a workplace environment that is human-scaled from the inside out. An emphasis on biophilia and on the exposed mass timber structure guide the design. The project seeks to make quality and craft visible, from the beveled piers that catch light from different angles on each floor to the transparent ground floor lobby and retail spaces. The building will feature cross laminated timber (CLT) floor slabs, glue-laminated timber (Glulam) columns and beams, steel lateral seismic framing, and metal cladding.
“Our decision to use mass timber is inspired by the neighborhood’s culture of creativity, sustainability and strong opinions,” said Brookfield Properties Sr. Manager of Development Cutter MacLeod. “By applying emerging technologies and innovative designs to the structures we’re building here, we are reinforcing that Pier 70 will be a thriving place for creative industries in San Francisco.”
The new 310,000 sq. ft. mid-rise mass timber building will be 85-feet-high with six-floors. It will be the first ground up office parcel built at Pier 70, where construction is underway on a $3.5 billion waterfront neighborhood with housing, offices, parks and space for artists and local manufacturing, and rehabilitated historic buildings. The building’s exterior will include a simple palette of metal panels finished to appear as raw weathering steel as a reference to the site’s ship building history and adjacent industrial buildings.
News via Hacker Architects
