Like a pickup easing into a snug parking space without scraping the convertibles on either side, the planned expansion of Moscone Convention Center now looks as if it might fit its setting and not do major harm. In fact, the latest batch of changes to the proposed design should help make the south end of Yerba Buena Gardens feel more like part of the city and less like a zone for special events. There’s still work to be done, especially on the west end of the enlarged convention hall. But an earlier scheme that overwhelmed the gardens’ play areas has been whittled back, and the latest designs use a variety of tools to soften what was shaping up to be a sleek but sterile behemoth.
The refinements are part of the fast-moving effort to begin construction this winter of a $500 million, 300,000-square-foot expansion of the convention center that lines Howard Street between Third and Fourth streets. The first piece opened in 1984; three sections have been added since, most recently the glass-clad Moscone West in 2003. Work will begin underground, with a broad exhibition hall beneath Howard Street to link the north and south wings of Moscone more extensively than now is the case. But the real change involves replacing the original structure with a three-story, 94-foot-high container of malleable, high-ceilinged spaces.
Out to the sidewalk
The redone block would also extend out to Howard’s sidewalk, instead of being slung behind an extensive drop-off zone for buses and taxis as is now the case. The basic dimensions have been in place for a year, and they’ve been fought by critics who feared the supersized hall would overwhelm what now is a delicate balance of cultural and residential activities within the popular gardens. In the past month, though, the architectural picture has come into focus. The biggest change involves the tall third floor: It has been pulled back 70 feet from the building edge that faces the children’s playground, removing 15,000 square feet of meeting space. The remaining wall along the landscaped play area would have an outer screen of metal intended to hold vines that, theoretically, would give the new structure a natural veil. This isn’t as radical as the proposal by TODCO Group, which builds and manages affordable senior housing in the area. That organization wanted the west half of the third floor removed entirely. Even so, the playground shouldn’t feel hemmed in – and the meeting space remains, now tucked behind the main entry.
On the Howard side
The design along Howard also is coming into its own. Credit goes to the architectural team of Skidmore Owings & Merrill and Mark Cavagnero Associates, two firms with an eye for modernist craft. They’ve sculpted and honed in several key areas, sharpening the roofline in some spots and adding pockets of depth to the long glass wall in others. Also, large sections of glass would be ultra-clear in livelier areas such as the escalator landings at Third and Howard – unlike Moscone West, where the glass walls are so murky that the structure has a gauzy, lifeless presence most times of the day. “We’re trying for a strong civic face on Howard Street and a very soft face on the (children’s) park,” said Craig Hartman, the lead designer at Skidmore. “We want to make a non-convention convention building, a truly urban building.” That’s not easy, given the internalized mission of such complexes to keep conventioneers captive from morning to night.
Hard to fit in
The strain of fitting in now shows most clearly where the structure would face Fourth Street; it’s very much a side, with glass and metal skins that are all about finishing the box. The problem? That elegant blank wall rises alongside a plaza where there’s a carousel marking the public realm within the block, including a skating rink as well as the playground. In the next round of refinements there needs to be a recognition that this side – next to the plaza, kitty-corner to Moscone West – is a front as well. Considering the progress that we’ve seen, there’s no reason to think the Moscone won’t continue to improve.
If you would like to see more images regarding the lastest changes to the design of the expanded Moscone center, please click here!