Project profile: 355 11th Street

355 Eleventh is a LEED-NC Gold adaptive reuse of a historic (and previously derelict) turn-of-the-century industrial building. The building's original timber frame structure was retained and seismically upgraded. Both a new exterior envelope and new interior were provided to serve the building's current role as a multi-tenant workspace.

The 3-story, 14,000-square-foot mixed-use project was developed and constructed by the building's primary occupant; a general contractor specializing in green building. The general contractor's headquarters occupy the entire second floor of the building. The third floor is leased to an architecture firm. A restaurant and bar that has registered for LEED-CI Platinum certification will occupy the first floor and exterior courtyard.

Because the project site is on the National Register of Historic Places, the San Francisco Planning Department mandated that the project's new siding be an "in-kind" replacement of the original corrugated metal siding, which was unsalvageable, and that the overall window area be consistent between old and new. The design team successfully championed a strategy of introducing subtle perforations into the new zinc cladding to allow light and air into the occupied spaces beyond, maintaining the stoic character of the original building without the visual introduction of new fenestration.
(2010 AIA/COTE Top Ten Green Projects recipient)