One Beach Street

Constructed in 1924, the historic One Beach Street building in San Francisco originally housed Otis Elevator’s West Coast manufacturing operation. After the manufacturing operation was closed, the building became an office space in 1969. In 2023, Salas O’Brien partnered with RMW Architects to provide structural engineering to help modernize the space and ensure compliance with current seismic codes.

The building’s rich and complex history created some interesting structural challenges for the team, necessitating close collaboration. The existing as-built and seismic retrofit drawings varied from the actual building condition, making the design process more challenging. Additionally, the team needed to fully replace the ground floor slab to mitigate long-term settlement issues in the building’s foundation.

The completed building has striking new features including a three-level glass box feature stair that leads to the shared rooftop amenity space. Not only is the roof home to critical MEP equipment, but it also provides office tenants with sweeping views of the city.

Award
2023 ENR Best Project – Renovation/Restoration