Throwing Away a Stodgy Mold

San Francisco Federal Building Is Green and Gorgeous

By Thomas York

The Federal Building complex consists of two structures separated by a public plaza and 3,000-sq.-ft. cafeteria. The larger structure, an 18-story glass tower, will feature a natural ventilation system that has been designed to replace a mechanical heating and cooling system rendering courtesy of Morphosis

San Franciscans have long grumbled about the lack of imagination in the architecture dominating the city's urban skyline.

The new office complex at Seventh and Mission streets should halt the complaining. And, surprisingly, it's coming from the federal Government Service Administration, which is decidedly breaking with its stodgy institutional image in the design and construction of the 605,000-sq.-ft. San Francisco Federal Building.

The creation of award-winning architect Thom Mayne of Santa Monica-based Morphosis, the building has become the talk of the town for its many "green" features that promise to reduce energy costs up to 45 percent, or $500,000, annually.

The Dick Corp. of Pittsburgh, Pa., and the Houston, Texas, office of The Morganti Group serve as joint general contractors, while the San Francisco office of the SmithGroup serves as the executive architect for the $144 million project.

Nick Nolte, GSA project manager, said construction, which got under way in June 2002, should be completed in November 2005.

The project consists of two structures separated by a public plaza and 3,000-sq.-ft. cafeteria.

The first structure, an 18-story glass tower, will showcase a natural ventilation system that has been designed to replace the mechanical heating and cooling system.

The second, a four-story building, designed to house federal employees that interact with the public, will contain a conventional heating and cooling system.

The 18-story building is 240-ft. high but only 120-ft. long and 65-ft. wide.

Nolte said the structure looks like "a domino on its side," a design element that will let in much of the natural light and solar heating available during daylight hours.

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Tim Christ, Morphosis project manager, said the progressive design derives from building practices in Europe, particularly Germany and Austria, where workers can open and shut office windows to bring in outside air to each floor.

The natural circulation of outside air will also help stave off illnesses that workers sometimes suffer in closed buildings.

On the tower's south side, Morphosis has designed a stainless steel mesh screen that runs the height of the building to create a "natural circulation engine." This engine will provide much of the building's cooling by drawing heat up and then away from the structure, GSA's Nolte said.

"It will be naturally ventilating, so we won't need artificial air conditioning," he added.

The building management system will observe interior temperatures and automatically open and close large floor air vents during the summer. Radiant floor heating installed in the tower's slab floors will assist during winter months.

These alternative systems added 5 percent to the overall cost of the building. But energy savings will more than pay for the added expense during the construction phase, Nolte said. And the GSA saved $11 million by not installing air conditioning in the main tower.

The project will have a one-story basement with limited underground parking. In keeping with the GSA's philosophy of erecting environmentally friendly and sustainable buildings, workers will be encouraged through subsidies to take mass transit to and from work.

The building will eventually house 1,600 employees from four separate agencies now scattered around the city in five separate buildings.

Nolte said that when finished, the complex would "easily become the city's most energy-efficient and healthy building," even though the unusual design did not fit into the overall low-rise character of the neighborhood.

Morphosis' Christ said the GSA's chief architect Ed Reiner has been pushing for the design and construction of new government buildings that go beyond what's usually found in commercial designs that emphasize floor space over all other considerations.

"These are model buildings-one-of-a-kind progressive designs with a high level of creativity in terms of their design and performance," he added.