Move over, Painted Ladies—here comes Ricardo Legorreta’s new campus for tech company Salesforce.com in Mission Bay, lavished with terracotta, purple, and pink hues. If all goes according to plan, the 14-acre campus will provide a serious jolt to the neighborhood, shaking up the current scene of sterile office buildings and biotech labs. Released for public comment this week, the conceptual designs show the architect’s signature use of color and strong geometric forms to design a corporate campus that also functions as a gathering place for the neighborhood.
“We really wanted to create something fun to look at and not another big glass tower,” said Bruce Francis, vice president of corporate strategy at Salesforce.com.
The site, which spans three blocks of the neighborhood’s main thoroughfare, Third Street, will include 2 million square feet of buildings. A public plaza will connect Third Street to a bay front park, under development by the city, framing a view of the waterfront.
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In addition to the bold colors, lively architectural elements include pink and purple campaniles at either end of the plaza, as well as a giant four-story-high reflective cone and a mesh sphere that will serve as meeting areas. The company has set a goal of LEED Platinum for all buildings, and plans to incorporate vertical wind turbines, water recycling, and atriums for natural lighting. One item the company is not planning to include, contrary to the practice of many tech companies, is a corporate cafeteria. “It will be great to get people out into the community,” said Francis.
The city’s redevelopment agency is overseeing the project, and if the agency and the city approve the plans construction on the first building is expected to begin by mid-2012.