Architecture & Culture Magazine — "MIRA: Studio Gang"

“Located at the corner of Spear and Folsom, MIRA will add 392 residences in the heart of San Francisco when complete later this year. Studio Gang’s twisting design for the 40-story tower creates a diversity of units with sweeping views and natural light, and also addresses the dense context of the evolving Transbay district by generating a facade that is dynamic to pedestrians in the neighborhood. Just blocks from the Bay Bridge, Embarcadero, and Rincon Park, the 400-foot-tall tower creates a welcoming new community in the evolving Transbay district and accommodates a wide range of units, with 40 percent designated below market rate.

The design responds to the need for dense housing in San Francisco and offers new models of sustainability, all while reinterpreting the city’s architectural traditions. It evolves the classic bay window, a familiar feature of San Francisco’s early houses, reimagining it in a high-rise context. Twisting incrementally over the height of the tower, the bays offer ample views, natural light throughout the day, and fresh air, and also inform the building’s distinctive form and texture—the result of special attention to the building’s energy performance and how it is experienced. Extending the inhabitable spaces within and offering platforms from which to view the city at all angles, the bays make every residence a corner unit.

A sophisticated curtain wall facade system allows the bays to be attached to a repeatable structural slab from inside the building, reducing the need for a tower crane on site and limiting energy consumption and neighborhood impact during construction. The bays allow for a high-performance facade that is 55 percent opaque without inhibiting nearly 180-degree-views in every unit. The high-performance facade, along with an innovative VRF cooling system, allows the building to exceed ambitious California Title 24 energy standards. This, along with a state-of-the-art graywater harvesting system, green roofs, and high-efficiency fixtures, puts the project on target for LEED Gold certification.”

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