Located in the new, Brookfield Properties mixed-use development, the 25-story tower will provide dynamic workspace for tenants and welcome the community into its public spaces, activating the revitalized neighborhood.
Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF) recently celebrated the topping out of 415 Natoma Street with developer Brookfield Properties. The new, 640,000-square-foot, Class A office building opening in fall 2021 suits major technology companies as tenants with large open floor plates, column-free interiors, activity-based layouts that promote movement, and a variety of creative spaces for collaboration. KPF served as design architect for 415 Natoma Street in collaboration with House & Robertson Architects as architect of record.
“415 Natoma represents a dynamic workplace that specifically responds to its location at the heart of San Francisco and the SoMa neighborhood,” said KPF Design Principal Trent Tesch. “By splitting the vertical volume into two discrete forms, our design echoes SoMa’s intimate and intricate urban fabric, including a façade that enhances these connections through texture, pattern, and color. Most importantly, the building reveals its entrance at the intersection of Natoma Street and Mary Court, where visitors and tenants alike will fully comprehend 415 Natoma’s kinship with the neighborhood.’
Conceived as a blend of both the historic and modern urban character of San Francisco, 415 Natoma Street articulates the delicate relationship between old and new. The two stepped, intersecting volumes of the tower and overall massing of the building relates to the context of the neighboring streets – which to the north are denser and more commercial and to the south are smaller, industrial, and residential – while a collage of complementary vertical and horizontal textures on the façade creates a dynamic expression. Layers of cantilevered volumes at the podium provide multiple terraces that bridge the relationship from interior to exterior, and offer sweeping views of San Francisco.
“This is an exciting milestone in our long journey that began a decade ago with the master planning and entitlement process for 415 Natoma and the 5M development,” said KPF Managing Principal Lloyd Sigal. “It’s a tribute to the vision first conceived with Forest City and the City of San Francisco and developed by our friends at Brookfield Properties, who have had the confidence to continue building through the terrible pandemic. We congratulate them on this achievement. This project adds to our firm’s longstanding commitment to San Francisco, where we opened our West Coast office several years ago to serve 415 Natoma and a growing portfolio throughout California and the Pacific Northwest.”
At the ground level, a publicly accessible lobby extends outward to the adjacent streets and Mary Court, a new half-acre park, to promote the engagement of public and private. An arcade of retail and food and beverage options will welcome the public visiting the adjacent parks, and further activate the ground plane. Another 2,200-square-foot lobby is dedicated to anchor office tenants, enabling them to curate and personalize their entry experience. By introducing dynamic new tenants and engaging activity at the street level, 415 Natoma Street will anchor the 5M development and invigorate the surrounding neighborhood.
415 Natoma Street prioritizes tenant health and wellness, with more than 27,000 square feet of outdoor terraces, a half-acre of privately-owned open space, state-of-the-art mechanical and ventilation systems, and touchless building automation features. The building is targeting WELL Core & Shell and LEED Gold certifications.
“For 415 Natoma, we translated the isolating suburban office model for tech companies into an expressive, urban vertical environment,” said KPF West Coast Director Angela Wu. “We linked the building to the city by integrating public and private space, and by providing lots of indoor / outdoor areas with wide views for working or taking a break. Overall, 415 Natoma is a responsive building that sets an example for similar developments in other cities.”
5M is a phased, mixed-use development by Brookfield Properties in partnership with Hearst that is reshaping four acres between 5th, Mission, and Howard Streets into a series of open park spaces and green terraces amid low-, mid-, and high-rise buildings with office, residential, and civic programs. KPF worked alongside SITELAB Urban Studio to develop the masterplan for 5M.
415 Natoma Street, as well as other new and rehabilitated historic buildings, parks, and open spaces will open in mid-to-late 2021.
The new building is one of KPF’s several ongoing projects on the West Coast of the US, including Platform 16, an innovative, energy-efficient office complex that promotes quality of work life; South Almaden Boulevard, a high-end office building in San Jose, that prioritizes user comfort and flexibility; and Downtown West, Google’s mixed-use vision that positions Downtown San Jose for future growth.
415 Natoma Street’s human-scaled, responsive design parallels KPF projects such as the carefully-crafted 1000 Maine, the first trophy office building in Washington DC’s The Wharf; 55 Hudson Yards in New York, which features an expressive, modulated façade; and 18 Robinson in Singapore, with its sculptural form and publicly-accessible green spaces.
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