Chicago-based Studio Gang Architects released two renderings of a proposal for a 400-foot residential tower on San Francisco’s Folsom Street. Studio Gang—led by MacArthur Fellow Jeanne Gang, FAIA, with co-principals Mark Schendel, AIA, and Gregg Garmisa—was awarded the commission for 390 condominiums, of which 139 will be reserved for low-income tenants, by developer Tishman Speyer in late February. The 40-story tower, skinned in masonry tiles that frame bay windows rotating in 11-floor increments, will house market-rate housing, and will share a city block with a separate structure to house the city-mandated affordable housing component of the project, according to the San Francisco Chronicle’s John King.
The proposed design still faces zoning approvals, which may present a challenge given that current restrictions limit building heights in the area to 300 feet. However, as King reported, members of the Citizen Advisory Committee have voted to continue investigation into both the 400-foot version and a zoning-compliant 300-foot alternate version of the tower.
“What I like about tall buildings (aesthetically) is what you do with the height, the incremental moves along the way,” Gang said in the article. “It’s not just the extrusion of a single form from bottom to top.”
