New York-based SHoP has completed work on the Uber Headquarters in San Francisco. The 423,000-square-foot project is divided into two buildings ranging between six and eleven stories, linked by two suspended walkways.
The scheme’s star attraction is its active “breathing” façade composed of full-height windows. The computer-controlled system sees windows open and close in an accordion shape, with operable windows strategically placed at specific locations on the façade in response to wind and sun patterns. In addition to satisfying the building’s ventilation needs, the moving façade offers an ever-changing street scene throughout the day.
Inside, the building’s perimeter is lined by a series of circulation and gathering spaces known as the Commons. The zones form a buffer area between the unconditioned atmosphere on the exterior and the controlled temperatures in the core workspaces, while “bringing the life of the building into contact with the life of the streets.”
The workplace areas within the building offer a departure from the open-plan office, with work stations instead arranged in a series of smaller “neighborhoods.” Each cluster contains its own distinct material palette, linked by shared support and collaborative zones, including the surrounding Commons area.
The building’s completion comes at the same time that new renderings were released for SHoP’s major Hudson's site development in downtown Detroit, built on the site of a historic department store.
Last month, meanwhile, the firm’s supertall tower at 111 West 57th Street in Manhattan took a step closer to completion, with the announcement that the building’s exteriors have been completed. The scheme was also recently named as one of the best tall buildings in the world at the CTBUH’s 2022 Award for Excellence.
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11 Comments
Its funny to see all these fancy office buildings (like this one, or the Google one) that were greenlit before the pandemic, taking shape now, when 60% employees do not really want to go back to work.
One of the better SHoP projects to be built in years.
so this is where the profits go! we'll see how long this faux company lasts in an appropriately designed shell building
Pretty sure the profits are going to the Shell company given gas prices now .... D:
Seems like Architecture is getting better and better while the general built world getting worse. I'm not blaming architecture industry per se (except for gate keepers) but the general culture for not valuing it and learning from it.
Meanwhile you see the foundation and academic complex working to dissolve what is great about Architecture and severing all connections between design and the public, but promoting a new successor ideology of race and gender, and new false alternative history where we have to pretend like the user's identity is primary and architecture an arbitrary variable. Design matters.
I hope that at several points during the design process, SHoP's principals screamed aloud "SURGE PRICING!!" and quadrupled Uber's design fee.
The result of two anti-union firms working together. Imagine if both had to pay overtime...
Is this what they went with after spending tons of money updating the nice building in Oakland? I guess even evil, blind squirrels find nuts.
So much to like here, inside and out. And it should transition well to something else when Uber goes under (how much are they spending for this, anyway?).
But I wonder how often those windows will be open. SF runs cool:
Given all the hot air Uber's execs spew, I'd guess quite frequently.
Ii judge tech companies by how many plants they have inside their headquarters. Apple probably wins because of the big courtyard.
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