Potrero Hill Innovation Center

SPEAR STREET CAPITAL | SAN FRANCISCO, CA

*Work completed while at El Dorado

DATE: 2023    ROLE: Architecture + Interior Design   COST: $73,700,000    SIZE: 176,700 SF

San Francisco and the Bay Area has evolved into a world center of industrial innovation. The Potrero Hill Innovation Center introduces a new building typology to that heritage as the first, multi-story industrial lab within San Francisco’s city limits. The design pays careful attention to San Francisco’s strenuous zoning ordinances. The building’s form is separated into two primary masses to meet street frontage requirements and height limits, while also acoustically protecting a vegetated, occupied roof from the adjacent elevated interstate. Inspired by typical industrial roof forms within the same district, the east and west facades consist of vertical sawtooth forms that fit within the city’s unique bay window code. These sawtooth forms are clad in perforated metal panels that filter direct sunlight from the interior and are spaced to utilize standard panels widths while also meeting both the seismic and window washing requirements. The north façade consists of an uninterrupted glazed curtain wall system to allow generous amounts of natural light and frame views of San Francisco’s famous bay and skyline. The result of these nontraditional approaches to the city’s strict zoning requirements is a new, innovative addition to San Francisco’s industrial lineage.