Cloudscape

Skylines are what identify cities on the horizon. A single line can describe the peaks and valleys of any settlements where human beings have invested logistically and symbolically in their cities. Our eyes follow that artificial contour to know where the city is instantly. Being recognizable in the urban fabric is a point of pride. These are the architectural ambitions of an enlightened patronage committed to leaving long term positive traces on the land, both prosaic and existential. To be emotionally consequential to the life of people, places need to speak to the inner self. It follows that the architecture's iconography is pivotal in determining long-term memory. Within the profession of Architecture, there are few places where the dynamic tension between the poetic and the pragmatic come to fore, with such vigor than the typology of the high-rise. Typically, tall and slender, these forms offer the opportunity to soar, literally “in the clouds,” and when they are designed at their best, they create an emotional presence. They give an urban skyline its character, and in a sense, they form a symbol of what a city culturally is and what it aspires to be, and where it sees the future. Each structure has the opportunity to contribute its part, as all buildings do, but because of their sheer scale and the fact that hi-rises are often seen from long distances their design carries a greater burden to react to the physical and cultural conditions of its time. Sometimes this can take the form of standing out, of creating an icon, it can also responsibly blend in. Each project must consider what might this gift to the city be. Cloudscape, as the name implies, takes the abstracted form of cumulus clouds as its symbolic reference. This has two origins, the first is a reference to the natural world, to the fog and mists that permeate the city of San Francisco, it is the geographical legacy of this part of the world. The second inspiration comes from the technology that is fueling unprecedented global change. Since the 1950s Silicon Valley has been one of the world’s most fertile epicenters of innovation in digital technology. It has taken 45 years for Silicon Valley to reach San Francisco in both a physical and cultural way, but its arrival has created an impact on the City that rivals the Gold Rush of 1849. One of the most poignant technologies now establishing its presence is “cloud computing,” which is itself a metaphor for data storage and computing over a distant and distributed network and is the underlying technology of the unnamed tenant for this project. Overall the design for this 1,300,000 sf project follows a classic base / middle / top parti. While most high rises start their narrative with the top, this project puts equal weight on the ground condition. The base is a study in humane scale, starting with an iconic and welcoming lobby. This takes the form of a sixty-foot sphere emerging from the ground, making its way towards the sky. In the most cherished cities of the world, human scale is provided by a permeable fabric of small streets and alleyways. This often runs counter to the scale of modern mega developments. Here we have embraced this notion in two ways fundamental to the design diagram. First, we have broken the long western street frontage by carving a forty-foot wide passage thru the building and paired this with the lobby sphere. In addition, we also celebrate the space between this project and its neighbor by creating a broad and activated paseo that follows a grand arc, connecting a new south mid-block alley to an eastern midblock alley. This space provides a lush set of gardens with a fifty-foot arcade with a sky-lit roof. Here eight sub-gardens, each providing a high degree of intimacy with their circular plan shape, emerge symbolically as clouds beginning to form from the ground. This network of spaces is activated by fully incorporating retail, pedestrian-oriented service, and dining spaces, both indoor and outdoor into the public realm. The middle section of this 47 story tower is an elegant shaft with a distinctly vertical articulation, this accentuates a feeling of ascension, of clouds forming and rising to the sky. This starts with the lobby sphere, and as you make your way up, the shaft is interrupted by two shapes, the first is a sphere protruding, and a bit further up is the reverse, a sixty-foot diameter void, with a razor-thin circular platform extending out, creating a viewing deck and mid-level aspirational space. On an urban scale, the emotional intent for the crown of the building is one of intrigue and allure, a crowning endeavor expressed by a mysterious and tumultuous form, part technological wonder, part natural allusion. A form that glimmers in the distant mist. These emotions serve to create one of the most powerful forms of placemaking, “Aspirational Place”, which is the emotional sense of “a place you want to be” ... the desire to experience what is perhaps unattainable, yet powerfully alluring. Formally this is a challenge, the top eight stories must look both ethereal, like a vapor, and function as a waterproof and efficient space. A harmonic arrangement of thirty glass spheres, of varying diameters, forms the basis for this metaphor. Within this composition is a vast sky garden, well landscaped and providing both public and private space, including cafes, exhibition room, and meeting and work areas. The spaces range from intimate secret gardens to soaring bubbles with fifty-foot glass ceilings. Here, your horizon is raised to match your aspiration to leave a meaningful imprint in a world you want to change for the better. It is in Cloudscape that you find a spot from where to dream bigger dreams, acquire perspective, organize your thoughts, protected from the elements, while in the midst of nature…. ready to make a creative mark in the sky.