The Pacific
The Pacific transformed a former dental school building into a striking architectural statement.
The Pacific is a luxury condominium located in San Francisco’s Pacific Heights neighborhood. The project included the adaptive reuse of a former 1960’s dental school into a multifamily residential building, as well as the design of ten townhomes on an adjacent surface parking lot.
The original building had essentially been built like a hospital, with high ceilings and large floorplates, which translated well to a luxury residential building: the floor plates, originally designed for heavy dental equipment, allow the units to incorporate the existing 12’ high floor-to-floor span, creating high ceilings and gracious interior living spaces throughout the project.
The original building had essentially been built like a hospital, with high ceilings and large floorplates.
The heavy precast concrete façade was removed and replaced with champagne colored metal panels and floor-to-ceiling glass.
Window openings were made much larger, such that they are now the dominant feature in the façade.
Triangular bays that are as tall as the windows extend past the building face, so that each apartment can look down onto the streetscape below.
These “glass apertures” create a strong geometric presence and textural quality, while breaking up the building’s mass.
At the building’s roof, the team kept the outline of an existing two-story mechanical penthouse but converted it into four large, residential duplex penthouses, each with expansive private terraces.
On the terrace level, an intimate indoor-outdoor owner’s lounge serves all the residences.
At the ground level, a new stone streetwall was introduced.
The new wall includes some panels "tipped in" to make shadow lines, and sized to create a welcome sense of scale. New seating and plantings were also introduced.
Interiors use raw materials of marble, limestone, onyx, and bronze to convey a timeless luxury.
Ten townhouses were also added on an adjacent lot.
