Located at the southeast corner of the intersection of Folsom and Hawthorne Streets, in the South of Market (SoMa) neighborhood - one of the most lively and unique districts in the city of San Francisco - 633 Folsom has recently undergone a complete redevelopment. The developer has reinvented this circa-1960's office building as a modern workplace, retrofitting and recladding the existing seven-story reinforced-concrete structure and adding five new steel-framed floors. Rather than demolition and new construction, the embodied carbon of the existing structure was intentionally preserved and enhanced for new uses. Replacing the single-pane windows, a new high-performance façade incorporates three-dimensional composite sunshades to maximize natural light with minimal glare and solar heat gain. The building upgrades, which also include all new building systems and an outdoor plaza, will result in a building targeting LEED Gold^® and WELL Building certifications.

1,095 glazed curtain wall units, ranging in height from 3.5 m to 5.5 m (11 ft to 18 ft) to control solar gain and glare, Glass Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) sunshades were attached to the typical units, with a distinctive 3-D shape. The shape was optimally designed for shading and structural integrity, balancing views, daylight and environmental performance. The GFRP sunshades are supported along two edges by the curtain wall mullions, with a fastening detail which allows for their removal and replacement as well as access to replace the glass, as needed. Aluminum cladding panels (5 mm / 13/64” thick) were also installed over exterior concrete columns to give the renovated building a contemporary look. After demolition of the existing spandrel units, concrete slabs were extended with embeds to support new unitized curtain wall. Custom anchorage details were developed for units attaching directly to concrete pilasters in an over-clad condition, with careful consideration of tolerances for the existing concrete.