San Francisco, California, USA
Heatherwick Studio has unveiled plans for a low-carbon workplace campus and ecological park on a New Pier in San Francisco.
The Cove is a new conceptual vision for San Francisco’s Piers 30-32.
The Cove is a mixed-use workplace campus with a central 5-acre, ecological park. The publicly accessible park is a natural experience, an Eco-Transect, reminiscent of the California coastal headlands and bluffs.
Opening up this part of the Bay for the first time in over 36 years, the idea of creating a new waterfront ecological park and community hub has been developed between Earthprise and a team of experienced local waterfront and biodiversity specialists.
Led by a development team of Earthprise and the EPX2 (two EPs, as in Earthprise & Embarcadero Piers), both have for decades substantial experience in waterfront development, including historic and over-the-water projects.
The EPX2 team has designed, entitled, and built seawalls, piers, even very large concrete floating structures, and numerous commercial real estate projects. They have successfully tackled challenging seismic, historic, sea level rise, and many other project types in urban settings, including San Francisco.
This site, Piers 30-32, is currently occupied by a rectangular pier, which is being used as a car park.
However, Heatherwick’s proposal would see it transformed into a U-shaped pier around a central lagoon featuring flexible offices and a public park.
The overall design features two office buildings, each made of 13 modules that cascade out towards the Bay. The buildings have two full-sized floors, plus a third with a reduced floor plate under a pitched roof. Their combined floor space is 50,000m².
A five-acre park is also proposed for the pier, nestled between its prongs, giving way to a lagoon and a bridge.
The resilient design responds to the threats posed by the climate change emergency by generating solar-powered energy, incorporating low-carbon materials, restoring coastal processes, and enhancing habitats for fish, shellfish, aquatic plants, and wildlife.
A colorful, contemporary destination that celebrates the classic California coast and the history of the Embarcadero, while serving as a warm, inviting urban (re)treat, a high-value oasis.
The Cove is smaller than the original pier footprint, has less bay fill, and is highly sustainable, plans for net-zero carbon and International Living Future Institute certifications.
Art Thompson, Executive Director at Earthprise noted, “The protection of the health, safety and well-being of our people and our communities is paramount, and in jeopardy. Our waterfront infrastructure is our first line of defense in the face of forces bigger than ourselves.”
“Timely, modern, ecologically-based resiliency improvements, which also respect the Embarcadero Historic District, like The Cove, are key to future-proof our City by the Bay, to safeguard our people, our assets, and our economy against natural disasters.”
In coming up with its design for the proposal, Heatherwick created a team of 20 EPX2 members include: Earthprise, Sares|Regis, Heatherwick Studio, Paradigm Strategy, CMG Landscape Architecture, Page & Turnbull, Kendall/Heaton Associates, WSP USA Maritime, Fugro USA Land, Magnusson Klemencic Associates, MKA Civil, stok, PAE Consulting Engineers, Biohabitats, McLaren Engineering Group, Edgett Williams Consulting, Michael Schwab Studio, Manson Construction, DPR Construction, Concrete Technology Corporation, Mammoet, Consolidated Engineering Laboratories, SWCA Environmental, and Reuben, Junius & Rose.
Earthprise has said the pier will be built and occupied by the end of 2026.
Architects: Heatherwick Studio
Developers: Earthprise and Sares|Regis
