Salesforce Transit Center Park

Parks and GardensCivic LandscapesTransportationConard LindgrenAdam GreenspanMichael DellisNorth AmericaMarta GualEric LeesDeep DivesSteve Tycz

May 16

Written By The Mom Pop

SalesForce Transit Center park

Click for a deep dive into the Project

LOCATION
San Francisco, California

CLIENT
Transbay Joint Powers Authority

Completion Date
2018

Architect
Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects

TypE
Parks and Gardens
Civic Landscapes
Transportation

Description
Salesforce Park, a 5.4 acre rooftop landscape that sits atop San Francisco’s multi-modal transit center, brings nature, horticulture, art and a rich mixture of botanical and active programmed experiences to downtown San Francisco. The Salesforce Transit Center Park is an essential element in the growth of the developing East Cut neighborhood that provides high quality public open space and access to nature in an area that lacks space for urban parks and natural areas at street level. Many people don’t have access to gardens where they live and work. Bringing the living systems of nature into public places in unexpected ways, can be a great benefit to community well-being, culture and the environment.

PWP conceived Salesforce Park as an integrated project that is a place of activity, respite and education, bringing nature to people where it is least expected, on top of a multi-modal transit center in the center of downtown San Francisco. Salesforce Park is an opportunity, through biophilic design, to expose people to beauty and wonder, stimulating interest in plants, animals, climate and natural systems. The park is the result of the winning competition scheme that was the only finalist to propose a habitable green roof that was both a performance landscape and a community resource.

Over 8,000 people live and work in the towers surrounding the park, many of them are able to access the park directly via bridges from the towers onto the park level. People who work near the park now use it regularly to conduct walking meetings, combining outdoor recreation and work throughout the day, year-round. Thousands of daily public transit users pass through the transit center, taking advantage of the opportunity to spend time in nature as a part of their commute. Formerly an inner-city industrial manufacturing neighborhood, new residential towers have grown up over the last decade. For residents adjacent to and near the transit center, this is their neighborhood park.

Designed as a destination and a neighborhood park, programming was a key part of the design concept. A robust schedule of activities and public events- exercise classes, movie nights, arts and crafts classes, and storytelling occur daily. The activities and settings appeal to people of varied ages, demographics, and abilities, helping them to feel welcomed and at home in the park.

The park is also the green roof of the Transit Center, one of many sustainable building features. The landscape on the green roof offers significant environmental benefits: it overhangs and shades the sidewalk at ground-level when the sun is strongest, provides habitat for flora and fauna, acts as insulation for the building’s interior spaces, moderating heat build-up in warm weather and retaining heat during cooler weather, saving an average of 36,091 kWh of energy annually. The park cools the surrounding environment and improves air quality by acting as a carbon sink. The soil and vegetation capture exhaust and filter the air, improving the air quality of the neighborhood. The plants and soil also capture, detain and filter 67% of the site storm water annually. The Wetland Garden was designed to treat greywater from within the transit center building for reuse in restrooms.

Dramatic and ecologically conscious gardens within the park provide experiential, ecological and horticultural engagement, offering glimpses into an array of nature’s wonders that are not available elsewhere nearby. The border of the park is enclosed by 13 feature gardens focused on plant communities that are specifically adapted to the particular climate of the Bay Area. By focusing on climate, drought, geography and technology, the feature gardens and associated interpretational signage create a place where visitors can consider the effects of climate change and the possibilities for adaptation and resilience, and the potential for integrated technological and landscape solutions in our cities.

Collaborators

Architect of Record: Adamson Associates Architects

(Los Angeles, Toronto)

Accessibility Consultant: McGuire Associates

Accessibilty for the Blind Consultant: Chris Downey Architect

Acoustic, Voice/Data/Telecom, and Security Consultants:

Shen Milsom &Wilke (San Francisco, Chicago), WSP (San Francisco)

Arborists: Barrie Coate and Associates, Stephen Batchelder Consulting

Artists: James Carpenter, Julie Chang, Tim Hawkinson,

Jenny Holzer, Ned Kahn

Civil Engineer: ARUP (San Francisco)

Civil, Geotechnical and Transportation Engineer, Rail Facilities,

Highway/Bridge, Tunnel Ventilation, Extreme Event and Risk,

Pedestrian Circulation Operations Analysis, and

Fire/Life Safety Consultant: ARUP (San Francisco)

Cost Estimator: Davis Langdon (San Francisco)

Design Structural Engineer: Schlaich Bergermann & Partner

Emergency Communication and Mass Notification Systems Consultant: Rolph Jensen & Associates

Façade Access (Window Washing) Consultant: Lerch Bates & Associates

Façade Consultant: Vidaris

Fountain and Mechanical/Electrical/Plumbing Engineer:

Fountain Source Engineering and Design

Graphics, Signage, and Wayfinding Designer:

WRNS Studio (San Francisco)

Horticulturalist and Palm Consultants: The Palm Broker (Jason Dewees), Don Hodell from University of California Extension, Golden Gate Palms & Exotics (Gary Gragg)

Illustrator: Steelblue

Irrigation Designer: ISC Group

Landscape Lighting Designer: Horton Lees Brogden Lighting Design

Lighting Designer: Auerbach Glasow French Architectural Lighting

Design and Consulting

Mechanical Controls Consultant: HMA Consulting

Mechanical/Electrical/Plumbing Engineer: BuroHappold Engineering

Mechanical/Electrical/Plumbing Engineer of Record: WSP (San Francisco)

Plumbing Engineer: Mechanical Design Studio

Risk and Vulnerability Consultant: URS/AECOM, DVS Security Consulting

Soil Scientist: Pine & Swallow Environmental

Structural Engineer: Thorton Thomasetti (Los Angeles)