project: LightFold - One Kearny Lobby
client: One Kearny Group
location: San Francisco
designer: IwamotoScott Architecture

San Francisco developer Derrick Chang had an artistic dilemma when he combined three buildings from different eras in the city’s downtown Gallery District—including a turn-of-the-century structure that survived the great earthquake of 1906, a 1960s design by Charles Moore, and new construction by the office of Charles Bloszies. But the dilemma was not beyond the capabilities of local architecture firm IwamotoScott Architecture. The new structure formed was One Kearny Street, a speculative commercial building with office space, ground floor retail, and a public roof terrace.

“The project footprint was from corner to corner, from property line to property line, so there was no good place for public art,” explains Chang, referring to the San Francisco Arts Commission (SFAC) mandate that all new construction in the city dedicate two percent of its construction budget to some form of public art. Enter Craig Scott and partner Lisa Iwamoto, whose firm IwamotoScott is known for its site-specific installations and experimentation with materials. “As part of the brief, [Chang] hoped to have the building lobby be counted as two percent for public art,” says Scott, adding, “It’s unusual for the SFAC to consider architecture as art.”

IwamotoScott’s design solution, which indeed was accepted by SFAC as qualifying for public art, transforms the concept of typical ceiling coffers often found in San Francisco’s historic buildings into an abstracted, folded, and luminescent wood chandelier lit by LEDs and programmed to dim and brighten according to ambient light conditions. Scott’s original idea was to have the “Lightfold” extend the length of the lobby, drawing visitors back to the elevators with direct access to the public roof terrace, but the location of mechanical systems prevented that realization.

Instead, a similar wood veneer was used as cladding for faceted panels that create the reception desk and line the walls between the front lobby beneath the coffers and the rear lobby and elevators. By using a geometric logic and a wood material that is visually consistent for different parts of the lobby and possesses different conditions of opacity and translucency, says Scott, the installation draws together and questions the ideas of light, materiality, and solidity.

“I didn’t want something trendy or short-lived,” comments Chang. “This is not overtly modern or contemporary. And our new and prospective tenants really appreciate its energy and thoughtfulness.”

who
Project: LightFold, One Kearny Lobby. Client: One Kearny Group. Architect/interior designers: IwamotoScott Architecture; Craig Scott, Lisa Iwamoto, Ryan Golenberg, Blake Altshuler, Christina Kaneva, Alan Lu, David Swain. Architect of record: Office of Charles Bloszies; Charles Bloszies, Matt Jasmin, Katie Hawkins. Contractor: Elliot Grimshaw, Premier Structures. Lighting: David Orgish, O’Mahoney & Myer Electrical Engineering & Lighting. Photographer: Craig Scott.

what
Wallcoverings: Mirror Image LCD Mirror display wall. Flooring: Associated Terrazzo. Wood Chandelier: Lenderink Technologies. Wood veneer walls and ceiling: Alpi Spa. Architectural woodworking: Plant Architectural Woodwork.

where
Location: San Francisco, CA. Total floor area: 860 sq. ft. No. of floors: 1. Cost/sq. ft. $750.