Best Interiors/Tenant Improvement: Uber Advanced Technologies Group R&amp;D Center

Best Interiors/Tenant Improvement: Uber Advanced Technologies Group R&D Center

Uber Advanced Technologies Group Research and Development Center

Old shipyard buildings were transformed into a seismically sound research center for Uber Advanced Technologies.

PHOTO BY BILLY HUSTACE

Owner Orton Development Inc.
Lead Design Firm Marcy Wong Donn Logan Architects
General Contractors Nibbi Brothers General Contractors and Novo Construction
Civil Engineer Sherwood Engineering
Structural Engineer Nabih Youssef
MEP Engineer Engineering 350
Window Curtain Wall Ed Hemmet
Historic Preservation Architect Mark Hulbert - Preservation Architecture

Preserving history while marking the high-tech future, this project encompassed four historic buildings at Pier 70 in San Francisco. Built between 1885 and 1937, the structures included unreinforced masonry, reinforced concrete and wood or steel trusses. Crews inserted mezzanines, bridges and stairs, and designers utilized architectural lighting to shape the spaces, define functions and highlight the industrial history of the Uber Advanced Technologies Group’s new R&D Center.

A retrofit system was designed to resist a 500-year-recurrence seismic event; steel columns and braces are strategically located along the existing building structure to minimize visual impact. New concrete mezzanines not only add leasable area, but also brace the historic brick walls at mid-height.

Dividing large industrial spaces with steel and transparent glass walls preserves the character of the cavernous industrial building while separating tenants.

Conference rooms and other programmed functions are new free-standing elements within the large volumes. Lab, shop and kitchen spaces are located under mezzanines, allowing for control of noise, temperature and containing dust. To condition the cavernous spaces, natural ventilation augmented with ceiling fans and radiant heat were provided. Full-height walls have upper portions sheathed in clear, multi-wall polycarbonate to maintain the building’s original sight lines. Teamwork was invaluable for cost control, says the submitter.

The architect collaborated with the developer and specialty contractors to reduce the cost of the 50-ft-high glass walls to one-third of their original estimates. Extensive investigative work by the developer and contractor informed the design team’s detailing. As a result, an unsafe and crumbling shipyard facility has now become a state-of-the-art, vibrant place for work and public gatherings.

ENR's Best of the Best Projects 2018

Aileen Cho, ENR's senior transportation editor, is a native of Los Angeles and recovering New Yorker. She studied English and theater at Occidental College, where a reporter teaching the one existing journalism course encouraged her to apply for the LA Times Minority Editing Training Program. Her journalism training led to her first stories about transportation, working as a cub reporter with the Greenwich Time. Her work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times and New York Times. Many of her experiences with engineers and contractors have inspired material for her alternative theater productions way, way off Broadway. For ENR, Aileen has traveled the world, clambering over bridges in China, touring an airport in Abu Dhabi and descending into dark subway tunnels in New York City. She is a regular at transportation conferences, where she finds that airport and mass transit engineers really know how to have fun. Aileen is always eager to hop on another flight because there are so many interesting projects and people, and she gets tired of throwing her cats off her computer in her home office in Long Beach, California. She is a very conflicted Mets/Dodgers fan.

Post a comment to this article

Coinciding with the release of the new 2024 Top 400 Contractors list, this annual webinar dives into the results of the Top 400 survey. We'll bring together a panel of executives from the largest contracting firms to discuss the industry’s pressing issues, from workforce challenges to data security.