Memo From San Francisco

Fueled by the second tech boom, San Francisco’s skyline is currently undergoing rapid change. More than 20 construction cranes crowd the downtown horizon, and more are on their way. With the transformation of the Mid-Market area, anchored by Twitter’s new headquarters in the old Furniture Mart, a stroll through the city today can feel like a never-ending construction zone. Thanks in part to the influx of young, affluent tech employees, the city’s dining scene is experiencing a concurrent boom, attracting internationally-acclaimed chefs such as Michael Mina, Daniel Patterson and Charles Phan.

San Francisco has a rich history of attracting prospectors, but the current inflow of capital is funding an especially exciting time in building and design. “By definition, cities are all about change and re-invention—San Francisco more than most,” says Gerry Tierney, senior project architect at Perkins + Will, the firm behind the renovation of the historic Art Deco building at 140 New Montgomery, now home to Yelp. “San Francisco’s design scene is at a high point right now. It is more mature and worldly than it has been before. The city has always had a strong regional streak, but it has become more welcoming to world-class architects who are eager to create beautiful architecture here.”

Click through below for details on the city’s new and upcoming projects, plus insight into San Francisco’s refurbished wood-and-metal aesthetic from Bonnie Boor, one of the founders of Boor Bridges Architecture, a design firm known for transforming industrial spaces into airy neighborhood hangouts.