San Francisco’s planning office gets a playful new headquarters, and a new residential tower provides much-needed housing.
Photography: Jason O’Rear/SOM. Illustration: Stephanie Davidson
A Civic Building That Makes Planning in San Francisco Almost Fun
This sleek complex of office, retail and apartment space near City Hall manages to lift the spirits of city workers and permit-seekers alike.
(This story is part of “Look at That Building,” a Bloomberg CityLab series about everyday — and not-so-everyday — architecture. Read more from the series, and sign up to get the next story sent directly to your inbox.)
San Francisco’s pre-Covid commercial real estate boom ushered in a wave of handsome modern office buildings with amenity-rich workplaces. But the municipal facilities that local planners and architects visited every time they needed to obtain any necessary approvals were not among them.