San Francisco Skyscraper

Based firm Sasaki Associates and analytic agency Equation Research, “The State of the City Experience,” outlines the results of a survey conducted with people who live and work in one of six major U.S. cities. When San Franciscans were asked how their city should invest to improve its architectural character, 25 percent said they wanted smaller buildings (the highest percentage of any city), while 20 percent said they preferred skyscrapers and iconic buildings (also the highest percentage of any city). With multiple towers in the works there, it seems the 20 percent will have its way.

The 1,070-foot Salesforce Tower, designed by New Haven, Conn.–based Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, will dominate the skyline as the city’s tallest skyscraper when it is completed in 2017. Foster + Partners’ 50 First Street tower will climb about 20 yards above the current tallest building, William Pereira’s Transamerica Pyramid, to come in second. This project includes an additional tower next door on Mission Street, which will rise to 605 feet. To design the two buildings, the London-based firm is working with San Francisco’s Heller Manus Architects—the same firm that has designed the nearby 181 Fremont Street, a tower currently under construction. And rounding out a new class of high-rises, Chicago’s Studio Gang Architects recently released renderings of the 160 Folsom Street skyscraper, but the building still faces zoning approval.  CAROLINE MASSIE