Parcel A in Pier 80, San Francisco, is a project
Grimshaw designed with local fi rm DES for the
developer Brookfi eld. Grimshaw focused on the
massing and facade design while DES developed the
interiors.
Our starting point was to develop a hardworking, highly
effi cient and fl exible chassis that will accommodate
interchangeable structural systems – from mass timber
to concrete frame to composite steel construction -
without having to change the building grid or the fl oor
to fl oor heights. This fl exibility was very important in
this building typology, a hybrid laboratory-offi ce with
the possibility of several tenants occupying a single
fl oor, connecting diff erent fl oor, etc.
Cognizant of the formal and second tier Architectural
articulation requirements demanded by the zoning laws,
our team has begun to explore a design approach to the
building massing closely informed by the immediately
adjacent historic building fabric. Key horizontal datums
are directly referenced in the articulation of the building
while maintaining a volumetric simplicity that avoids
contrived m odelling or sculpting of the building’s form
The facade articulation responds to the adjacent
historical buildings, with set-backs that establish an
architectural language with the industrial buildings
from the area. The facade consists on a series of
modules that express the verticality of the surrounding
architecture, using the same materials we can fi nd
in the urban context; raw materials like concrete or
weathered steel that establish a link not only with the
adjacent architecture, but with the steel industry that
once thrived in the area.
Building's Response