For the Danish bureau, which opened its US office in 2010, this will be the first project on the US West Coast. In the competition, which was organized by the development company Group I, BIG bypassed many significant competitors, including OMA and Snøhetta.
The 42,000 m2 mixed-use complex will be built in the heart of downtown San Francisco, at the intersection of Market Street and Tark Street. So far, it is named by its address - 950-974 Market. The implementation of this project will be part of a comprehensive program for the reconstruction of the Mid-Market area, which today is dominated by dilapidated and empty buildings and which in the future should turn into an "art quarter".
The plot allocated for the construction of the complex has the shape of an irregular triangle in the plan, the acute angle of which is precisely formed by the intersection of two streets. The architects follow a given geometry: the buildings of the hotel and the residential building are "peaks" that converge on the "edge" and form a public space among themselves, accessible to both residents and visitors of the complex. In the stylobate, which is the same for the two volumes, the architects propose to make two "recesses" - the hotel lobby and the foyer of the theater studios, which are interpreted not as internal premises, but as urban spaces in the body of the building.
In total, the 950-974 Market will include 250 hotel rooms, 316 apartments, an arts center with a total area of about 7,000 m2 and 1,300 "squares" of stores.
The entrances to the complex will be organized from both streets, and its facades will be very expressive in order to favorably emphasize the new building in the context of the Mid-Market. According to Group I calculations, the implementation of the 950-974 Market project will change the image of the entire Market Street, making the city's main transport axis also its significant cultural artery.
