El Dorado’s design for light industrial space in San Francisco is a finalist in the 8th annual GRAY Awards.
FINALIST
Breakout category: Workspace
Designer: El Dorado
Project location: San Francisco, California, United States
Date of completion: August 2023
Photographed by: Jason O'Rear
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SUBMISSION
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The architect worked with the developer to envision a sustainable, future-oriented light industrial space in San Francisco’s historical manufacturing district, Potrero Hill. This project offers a strong civic gesture, social condenser, and innovation platform ideal for high-tech enterprises.
Addressing zoning constraints such as setbacks, height limits, FAR restrictions, and the bay window code, the design embraces its industrial lineage while celebrating local communities. As the first purpose-built urban building for advanced R&D designed to meet the International Living Futures Institute’s zero-carbon pilot for speculative developments, the center aims for the highest performance level.
The 150,000-square-foot building features multimodal site entry at a recessed lower plinth and an at-grade main lobby. Facades of curtain walls and perforated metal scrim frame downtown views while tempering direct sunlight. Sawtooth forms along the east and west facades reimagine industrial forms, reduce glare, and satisfy the bay window code.
Inside, there are six day-lit floors plus a mezzanine, with below-grade parking for bicycles, EVs, and AVs. This project embodies a holistic approach to sustainability and community benefit, setting a new standard for environmental sensitivity while increasing density along a major urban corridor. Every element of the architectural design serves multiple roles in achieving these goals.
Façade articulation addresses pragmatic needs, with north-facing glazing and sawtooth bay windows providing dynamic streetscapes, views, and controlled daylighting while meeting code requirements. Limited south-facing glazing mitigates solar heat gain and preserves neighbors’ privacy. Variable heights in massing address the context, forming a rooftop protected from the elevated highway’s noise and visual distractions. The building’s scale and rooftop plantings also shield the neighborhood from highway noise and pollution.
Innovative design solutions, including low-cement-content concrete mixes, enabled a 22% reduction in embodied carbon intensity compared to baseline PDR facilities while still achieving mission-critical performance criteria, such as floors with 125 PSF live load capacity.
DESIGN TEAM:
Josh Shelton
John Renner
Sean Slattery
Kyle Schleicher
COLLABORATORS:
Contractor: Webcor
Architect of Record: Form4
Sustainability: Atelier Ten
Civil Engineer: BKF
Landscape: Groundworks Office
MEP: PAE
Structural Engineer: KPFF
Acoustics: Salter
Envelope: SGH
Curtainwall: Walters & Wolf
Lab: Richmond
Building Maintenance & Fall Protection: Highline Consulting
DESIGNER PROFILE:
El Dorado is an integrated architecture, urban design, curatorial, education, and fabrication practice based in Kansas City, MO, and Portland, OR. The acclaimed firm cultivates an ethos born of the Midwest, combining frugality and pragmatism with a commitment to support community through design. El Dorado has expanded widely, where projects and people take them, leading to its opening of the Portland studio and to new commissions and projects nationwide and overseas. Bringing a sense of accessibility and a penchant for big ideas to a new market, El Dorado is known for collaborations with artists to incorporate public art into architectural works, for material and fabrication innovation, and for solutions with civic and social impact.
The 8th Annual GRAY Awards is sponsored by:
