Construction work began for Herzog & de Meuron’s transformation of a former power plant building in San Fransico into a mixed-use project. Designed in collaboration with California-based practice Adamson Associates, the adaptive reuse of iconic Station A is part of the Portrero Power Station project, the redevelopment of a 29-acre industrial site into an extension of the Dogpatch neighbourhood. Herzog & de Meuron’s design retains and repurposes various features of the industrial building while adding a lightweight, steel-framed structure on top, thus giving new life to one of San Francisco’s landmarks.
Initially intended for demolition, Station A, one of the historic structures of Dogpatch neighbourhood, is now being repurposed as the local community advocated for its preservation. Building on its experience with adaptive reuse projects such as London’s Tate Modern, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie or Madrid’s Caixaforum, Swiss firm Herzog & de Meuron proposes a careful reconsideration of the qualities of the industrial site, assigning new uses to the former power plant’s architectural features.
The reinvention of Power Station will bring new life to a significant building from the city’s colourful past and will anchor this area as a destination on the San Francisco waterfront” - Jason Frantzen, senior partner at Herzog & de Meuron.
The transformation of Station A retains a large part of the turbine hall, the foundations of which support the added floors. The different platforms which once housed the machinery for power generations will be transformed into gathering areas overlooking the atrium-like space of the turbine hall. The façadse of the upper volume will feature overhangs, and the project will incorporate natural ventilation strategies, thus setting a sustainable transformation of the industrial building. The Station’s ground floor will contain a lobby, a conference centre and multi-functional spaces, while upper floors will be dedicated to office spaces.
The Power Station plan is San Francisco’s most extensive development project to date and will feature housing, retail, office spaces and outdoor areas, creating a new mixed-income neighbourhood on the city’s waterfront. Other buildings within the development are designed by Foster+Partners and LMS Architects.
Station A
- Site Area: 47,000 sqf
- Gross Floor Area (GFA): 430,000 sqf
- Footprint: 109’ x 433’
- Client: California Barrel Company LLC, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Design Consultant: Herzog & de Meuron, Basel, Switzerland
- Executive Architect: Adamson Associates, Inc., Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Herzog & de Meuron Team Partners: Jacques Herzog, Pierre de Meuron, Jason Frantzen (Partner in Charge), Simon Demeuse
- Herzog & de Meuron Project Team: Maximilian Beckenbauer (Associate, Project Director), Ryan Cole (Project Manager), Marion Achach, Alessandro Arcangeli, Iwona Boguslawska, Carly Dean, Josh Ehrlich, Ahmed Fetahu, Carly Gertler, Ciarán Grogan, Josh Helin, Brandon Lawry, Richard Nelson-Chow
- Herzog & de Meuron Project Team Concept Phase: Maximilian Beckenbauer (Associate, Project Director), Ryan Cole (Project Manager), Bruno de Almeida Martins, Carla Ferrando, Brandon Lawry, David Goncalves Monteiro, Richard Nelson-Chow, Alexander Pearson, Matteo Zapparoli
