London-based Heatherwick Studio has designed an elevated work campus and park bolstered against rising sea levels caused by climate change to replace deteriorating historic piers in San Francisco.
Heatherwick Studio developed conceptual proposal The Cove in a team of 20 called EPX2 for the site of Piers 30-32 at the southern end of the Central Embarcadero Piers Historic District.
Completed in the early 20th century in the city's South Beach neighbourhood, the Embarcadero site was listed in 2016 as one of America's 11 most endangered historic places by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
The buildings on the 108-year-old Piers 30-32 have since been abandoned, while the piers have lost structural integrity and fallen into disrepair according to the team. Two buildings flank park. Top image: The Cove will replace existing piers. Rendering by Wire Collective
The Cove proposal is intended to provide a new hub of activity while addressing rising sea levels threatening the waterfront site and also consideration its history.
A "resilient pier platform" composed of concrete piles will rise above the sea level, which is forecasted to rise three feet (0.9 metres).
Elevated on top will be a workplace campus with two buildings flanking a five-acre, ecological public park. Grossing 550,000 square feet, The Cove is designed to be smaller than the footprint of the existing structures.
The buildings will be modular, with renderings showing gabled structures that interloc...