San Francisco’s Embarcadero Center, constructed over twenty years beginning in the early 1960’s, consists of four office towers rising over a base of retail shops and restaurants. Beginning in the 1990’s we were retained to help improve the Center’s retail performance by reorganizing circulation and introducing a number of small, unique shops.
The Embarcadero Center "old" is a dignified, concrete and glass composition. Our idea was to insert "new" transparent forms into the existing framework that would allow maximum visibility into the colorful retail establishments.
The roof of the Crabtree & Evelyn store is an intersection of three conical surfaces delicately springing from the Center's concrete structure, creating a lyrical, undulating glass canopy.
The essence of the flower kiosk is the colorful nature of the flowers themselves. We adapted a standard "spider" fitting, connected to a transparent structure, in order to support internal glass shelves as well as the metal vases used by the vendor.