Posted Dec 18, 2006, 5:41 AM
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Join Date: Jun 2006
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Top architects, developers vie for chance to change skyline
BizTimes article on the desgin competition:
Quote:
Stars come out for Transbay tower
Top architects, developers vie for chance to change skyline
San Francisco Business Times - December 15, 2006
by J.K. Dineen
Story Images
The Transbay teams are taking shape.
From Paris, London, New York and elsewhere, an extraordinary gathering of top international developers and designers convened at Herbst Theatre on Dec. 7 at a pre-submittal meeting for the Transbay Transit Center Design and Development competition.
While the various partnerships are still evolving, those vying for the right to develop the 1,000-foot mixed-use tower and high-speed rail station will likely include celebrity architects Santiago Calatrava, Sir Norman Foster, Richard Rogers, Cesar Pelli, and noted firm Pei Cobb Freed Partners as well as San Francisco's own Skidmore Owings & Merrill.
The tower and terminal could well be among of the most recognizable and high-profile buildings on the West Coast.
While subject to change, the early teams include SOM partnering with Rockefeller Group of New York; Richard Rogers teaming up with developer Forest City and local firm SMWM; and Boston Properties joining forces with Kenwood Investments and superstar architect Santiago Calatrava. Another likely contender will be Foster's Foster & Partners working with developers Related Cos. and TMG Partners, and San Francisco-based architect Heller/Manus. Shorenstein Properties may also join that team but is still deciding whether to jump into the mix, according to a company executive.
Jeffrey Heller, a principal at Heller/Manus, said he traveled to London in November to meet with architects from Foster's huge firm, which employs more than 700 architects, designers, planners, and engineers.
"We are very pleased to be collaborating with Foster & Partners," he said. "I think they are an amazing organization."
He said the terminal and tower "will be the flagship building on the West Coast for a long time to come."
Glittering array
Maria Ayerdi, executive director of the Transbay Joint Powers Authority, has been impressed with the quality and number of developers and designers gunning for the ambitious project, which in addition to a rail station could include a hotel, office space, condominiums, and retail.
"Having worked on this for almost a decade, it's gratifying to think that by this time next year we'll actually be looking at designs," she said.
Gabriel Metcalf, executive director of San Francisco Planning and Urban Research, said if handled well, the design competition could be "very important for the evolution of the city's architecture."
"At the most basic level, this will literally be the most visible building in the city. If it is good architecture, it will literally symbolize San Francisco's design sensibilities," he said.
But Metcalf cautioned that a building of this size with a complicated mass transit component will be challenging.
"As a rule, large buildings are more difficult and more important to get right. It's easier for a small mediocre building to blend in, whereas larger mediocre buildings stands out. We need this building to be great."
Metcalf also said the fact that the complex will also become a public transit hub makes it all that much more vital.
"I think it's important to understand the symbolic importance of making our primary transit station the most important spot in the city. It's making the idea of our transit-first policy legible and readable on the skyline."
The deadline to register for the competition is Dec. 21 and preliminary qualification submittals are due Jan. 11, which must include a detailed description of each team, including information on the developer, designer, engineer, contractor and transportation specialists.
The two-stage competition is expected to take nine months, with the final design and development team picked by August 2007. Construction would start in 2009, Ayerdi said.
jkdineen@bizjournals.com / (415) 288-4971
Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfranci...ml?t=printable
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