Brookfield Properties’ and Port of San Francisco’s Pier 70 project is a 35-acre mixed-use redevelopment of a post-industrial waterfront site in San Francisco, California. Previously inaccessible to the public for over 100 years, the project’s master plan provides a dynamic vision that celebrates Pier 70’s maritime history, brings texture and authenticity to a large-scale development and unlocks public access to a new portion of the San Francisco waterfront. The plan participates in the larger transformation of San Francisco’s south-east waterfront into a new public frontier.
Runner-Up
Urban Design & Architecture Design Awards 2020
Pier 70 Waterfront Plan
Urban Design Concept
Architect/Designer
Laura Crescimano
Design Team
Laura Crescimano, Guneet Anand, Eri Suzuki, Grace Wu, Joyce Lee, Woody Hanson
Location
United States
Country
United States
Photographer/Copyright
©Renderings copyright to Brookfield Properties/SITELAB urban studio
To kickstart the project, the team held multiple listening sessions with the surrounding community and in turn, the vision for the project grew directly from conversations with community members, local artists, small businesses, historians, residents, and citywide stakeholders. By engaging residents and neighborhood groups, and collaborating closely with the San Francisco Planning Department, Port, and various city agencies, the project captures the aspirations of community members and professionals alike while amplifying a unique piece of San Francisco’s history.
When completed, Pier 70 will have 1-1.75 million square feet of office space in both restored historic and new large floor plate buildings, plus up to 240,000 sq. ft. retail, arts, and light industrial space, including a new waterfront arts facility. There will be up to 2,150 residential units with 30% of all units offered below-market rate, and a varied ground plane of new streets, pathways, and active uses. The mixed-use plan is anchored by a connected public realm tracing the site’s historic arrangement to create a 9-acre network of public parks and open spaces.
Pier 70’s historic buildings will be artfully repurposed into spaces that will house a market hall, local making facilities, and artist studios. New infill mixed-use buildings will complement the industrial setting and fabric while prioritizing a human-scaled public realm. The “mosaic” of open spaces, inscribed by the lines of historic ship building activities, will provide spaces for small and large events. In addition to ensuring compatibility of new development with historic buildings, the plan prioritizes compatibility of land uses, site configuration, and alignment of key streets and public pathways along all edges of the site.
With a series of varied building types, sizes, heights, roof forms, materials, and fenestration details, the essence of Pier 70 is best captured by its eclectic spirit. The plan provides a dynamic approach to protect the integrity of the historic district while celebrating its inherent variety and creativity. Through a reframed approach to design guidelines that shift from “one-size-fits-all” quantitative requirements to a more expansive scoring system that incentivizes forward-thinking design, the project allows multiple authors to contribute to the identity of Pier 70 over time, similar to its history.
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