San Francisco Federal Building

This is a pretty cool building… inside, at least. The outside is just plain weird looking. What I like about the new Federal Building is that it is touted as a «green» building. Natural light is used more than artificial light. Ventilation is brought in through windows that actually open. Recycling & composting bins are found throughout the building. The elevators stop at every few floors to encourage employees to take the stairs. I could go on, but you get the idea. This place is literally a breath of fresh air.
The downside is that it is cold, and when I say cold I mean you don’t get any warm fuzzy feelings here. It is a very sterile environment made up of concrete & metal. It’s even bomb proof! That’s cool.
I noticed that they also offer child care & have an on site gym with workout classes. The cafeteria serves sustainable foods with an ever changing menu.
Dare I say, I want to work for the federal government!

I’ve only been under the Turrell Installation with Buster. read on…
It’s the only area of grass that Buster likes to walk through, so we take a walk there, under the James Turrell Exhibit… for evening walks.
Buster likes to pee here, he’s a critic,: P
But really, the Turrell part of it is striking, it’s too bad there is all ready trash flying around the courtyard.

The San Francisco Federal Building is now open to the public. Be sure to bring an ID when you visit and leave your pocketknife at home (they’ll confiscate it if you try to bring one in). Once inside you’ll have access to all the public spaces including the grand lobby, the conference center below and the spectacular sky garden on the 11^th, 12^th and 13^th floors. You will, however, not have access to the actual office space where the government bureaucrats drone.
Potentially mistaken at first glance to be an expression of the architect’s ego or his idiosyncrasies this is really an extraordinarily sensitive response to the urban context (lower scale buildings to the south, taller to the north and a new plaza in between), the building program (the café is taken out of the building and put onto the plaza as a public amenity, segregated entrances) and the environment around the building (strong prevailing winds, southern exposure).
The San Francisco Federal Building is really four buildings: a café pulled out of the main building, an annex for social security with its own entrance, a childcare center tucked behind a vegetative berme and a tall tower of open office space that captures natural ventilation.
In the LOBBY, you’ll have a chance to admire the Gothic modern aesthetic of the space, enhanced by the deliberate lack of light coming in (limiting the amount of sun allows the building to remain naturally cooled.) You’ll also see the video wall, which serves as the building directory (and other information about the tenancy) as well as interactive elements that explain more about the building itself. If you you’re peckish, look out for the small coffee bar where you can pick up a drink or a snack.
The CONFERENCE CENTER below is open to the public and space in it can be rented. In the conference center lobby you’ll find art commissioned for the building from four local artists: Rupert Garcia, Raymond Saunders, Hung Liu and William Wiley.
When you head toward the elevators you’ll notice that there are a couple of options to take you up: two local elevators that stop on every floor and five skip-​stop elevators that stop on every third floor. With less stops skip-​stop elevators get you there faster even if it means walking up or down a flight.
My favorite part of the San Francisco Federal Building is the SKY GARDEN. You enter the sky garden from one of four three-​story elevator lobbies. Each lobby has one piece of an Ed Ruscha work (palindrome lovers, look out!) that was commissioned for the building and a dramatic view of the city out of one of its four «eyes». The sky garden itself is really a public plaza suspended in the air. It is a calm space with dramatic, stunning views of San Francisco and beyond. This is where, from a distance at night, you see the building glowing different colors. These colors are emanate from a James Turrell light installation («Sky Garden») and the real treat is to be in this space at dusk when you are saturated by color and as you look out into the horizon your perception of it changes as the color around you changes.
During the day the sky garden is a wonderful place to chill out. It must be a real treat for the government functionaries!
The mastermind behind the San Francisco Federal Building’s metal skin is Thom Mayne, the Santa Monica-​based bad boy of architecture who is now embraced not only our government (this is his first of four federal commissions) but also those around the globe that recognize smart design.
In the end, it turns out that this misunderstood newcomer to the San Francisco skyline is in fact a direct response to the world around it; one that challenges conventions as well as our own assumptions about architecture. But don’t take my word for it go see for yourself! After all, your tax dollars built it!