Project Details
- Project Name
- Historic Shipyard Reincarnation
- Location
- CA
- Architect
- Marcy Wong Donn Logan Architects
- Client/Owner
- Orton Development, Inc.
- Project Types
- Office
- Project Scope
- Adaptive Reuse
- Size
- 300,000 sq. feet
- Awards
- 2021 AIA - National Awards
- Shared by
- Madeleine D'Angelo
- Project Status
- Built
An abridged version of the below paragraph appeared in the May/June 2021 issue of ARCHITECT as part of expanded coverage of the 2021 AIA Interior Architecture Awards.
Marcy Wong Donn Logan’s project on the San Francisco waterfront sneaks in a host of surprises and unexpected delights. Based across the bay in Berkeley, Calif., the architects carved a tech-friendly corporate campus out of six industrial buildings, originally home to some of the West Coast’s largest shipyards. Besides its rather enormous scale, the scheme differs from other instances of adaptive reuse in its rare balance between the historic and the contemporary, fusing the two together in an ambience of mellow sophistication. Central to the designers’ approach is lighting—of both the electric and natural variety, the latter of which pours in through expansive windows. Existing as well as new fixtures are ingeniously placed to show off the buildings’ original steel trusses. Over the whole ensemble on the campus, as well as within each of its individual components, a diverse array of spatial typologies provides for maximum functional flexibility, while each intervention has been carried out with sensitivity to the late 19th- and early 20th-century context. Together, with preserved specimens of decades-old equipment, the overall effect suggests an intriguing parallel between San Francisco’s adventurous, seagoing past and its high-tech present.
Project Credits
Project: An Historic Shipyard Reincarnation, Pier 70, San Francisco
Client/Owner: Port of San Francisco / Orton Development, Inc.
Historic Architecture Consultant: Preservation Architecture
Interior Designer: Marcy Wong Donn Logan Architects
Structural Engineer: Nabih Youssef Associates
Landscape Architect: GLS Landscape
Lighting Designer: Architecture & Light
Size: 300,000 square feet
Buildings 113, 114, 115, & 116
General Contractor (Core & Shell): Nibbi Brothers
General Contractor (Tenant Improvements): Novo Construction
Civil Engineer: Sherwood Design Engineers
Mechanical Engineer: Engineering 350
Fire/Life Safety/Code Consulting: ARS
Building 102
Mechanical Design/Build Contractor: Allied Heating & Air Conditioning Co. Inc
Electrical Design/Build Contractor: Helix Electric
Materials and Products
Office Partitions, Glass Wall System, Detex Battery Alarm, Blumcraft Hardware and Elephant Doors: C.R. Laurence Co. Inc.; crlaurence.com
Doors for Large Openings: Fleetwood Windows & Doors; fleetwoodusa.com
Historic Window Replacement: Winco Windows; wincowindow.com
Polycarbonate Partition: Plazit Polygal; plazit-polygal.com
High-bay LED Lighting: Lithonia Lighting; lithonia.acuitybrands.com
Suspended Linear LED: Fluxwerx Illumination; fluxwerx.com
Tape Light at Crane: Aion LED; aionled.com
LED Surface Utility Strip: Philips Daybrite; usa.lighting.philips.com
LED Wall-mounted Downlight: Axis Lighting Inc. “Twin Beam”; axislighting.com
Building 102 Lighting
Barn Light Electric Company: Wall mount gooseneck industrial light; barnlight.com
Color Kinetics: eColor Blast Turbine (lower level); colorkinetics.com/global
Ecosense “Lumium”: Linear wall wash (elevators); ecosenselighting.com/products/lumium/
ETC: Source 4 PAR (mezzanine horizontal bracing); etcconnect.com
Fluxwerx Illumination: 4Spoke suspended pendant (main & lower levels); fluxwerx.com
Lindsley Lighting: Tule suspended cylinder (mezzanine & main level) Reed Pendant Cylinder downlight (main level); lindsleylighting.com
Luminii: tape light (break room cabinets); luminii.com
Moda Light: Graze between crane rail and concrete wall; modalight.com
Louis Poulson USA Inc: PH4 1/2-3 1/2 -T, Table lamp (reception desk)
Enigma 825 Pendant (main level); louispoulsen.com
PLP SoCal: microwash (main level & lower level); plpsocal.com
PureEdge Lighting: Twiggy S1 vanity light (restrooms & mother’s room); pureedgelighting.com
Two.Parts: “Lithium” X Pendants (mezzanine & lower level office); https://two.parts/
“Oxygen” O Pendants (lower level corridor)
USAI: Wall wash (lower corridor & mother’s room); usailighting.com
Vode: Boxtrail Table Arm (main level); vode.com
Project Description
This project was named a winner in the 2021 AIA Interior Architecture Awards. From the firm's 2021 AIA Award submission:
This project is centered on the adaptive reuse of six buildings in San Francisco's Dogpatch neighborhood, where some of the most important naval innovations of the 19th and 20th century once emerged. The cluster of buildings, all constructed sometime between 1885 and 1941, is located on the site of the former Bethlehem Shipbuilding yards, one of the best-preserved industrial complexes west of the Mississippi River.
Faced with the challenge of shaping new homes for burgeoning tech companies, the team benefited greatly from the existing structures' solid bones and the abundant natural light streaming in from sizable windows and skylights. All of the buildings have been carefully refurbished to accommodate a vibrant range of interior architectural concepts.
The buildings include an architectural jewel in Building 102, constructed in 1912 and designed by the Beaux-Arts–educated American architect Charles Peter Weeks. Also known as the Powerhouse, the building originally was an electrical substation that generated compressed air and hydraulic power for the 69-acre shipyard. The building's formal Spanish Renaissance Revival expression camouflages its earlier workaday life. Adapting the Powerhouse for a technology company in need of ample office space required the reimagining of many spatial functions. To do so, the team inserted a new heavy timber mezzanine along two walls that overlooks the main level and defines its entry and reception area.
Nearby, in the interconnected series of buildings—Buildings 113 to 116—demising the cavernous ship-building spaces with steel and glass walls has dramatically enhanced their spatial characteristics. The buildings house the research and development labs of Uber Advanced Technologies Group, which is focused on self-driving technology. The site's naval and technological history makes it a fitting home for the company, and the adapted structures easily accommodate its needs for office space, communal areas, vehicle storage, and laboratories.
Throughout the entire complex, the team endeavored to retain as much historic material as possible while maximizing daylight and views. It worked closely with the Port of San Francisco, the National Park Service, and the state's historic preservation office during the design and construction, ensuring the respectful interventions, while distinct, complemented the color and materiality of the existing structures. Following the clearing of the aged machinery, switchgear, and other equipment, the interior volumes were enhanced further through expansive windows and skylights. Many additional historic features, like inlaid tile flooring, gantry cranes, and light fixtures, were also restored.
