Project Description
671 Harrison is a ground-up five-story commercial building located in SOMA, San Francisco. More than 6,500 square feet of office space was designed into this tiny lot, measuring only 20 feet by 80 feet, which created numerous design challenges. The tenant switched partway through the project from the developer to the VA, allowing for a reimagining of the interior arrangements within the designed building shell. The tenant selected this location to provide support to their adjacent medical service space. The programmed spaces included interview rooms for client interfacing, conference rooms, enclosed offices, and open plan workspaces on each floor.
The Harrison Street facing façade can be admired amongst the traffic jam that typically awaits the onramp to the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. The front-most portion of the building cantilevers over the sidewalk with an obtuse angle. This angle creates a visual tension with the surrounding a five-story metal-framed element that cants out from the face of the building. Custom metal panels lap the framed element with two tones, gray at the face and exterior sides with a pop of blue color wrapping the interior. The ground floor recessed entry carries the blue metal panels into the entry sequence.
A rhythm is created on the street-facing elevation with offset floating perforated metal balconies and a pattern of obscured glass in the storefront system. Like many buildings in San Francisco, the site is built out to its property lines. Along both lengths of the building, the blind walls were designed with a pattern of pre-painted Hardie Fiber Cement Lap Siding. The rear of the building conceals an open-air stairway clad with industrial metal guardrails.