Designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects (PCPA), San Francisco’s tallest tower and its accompanying transit center are now partially open to the public after a decade in the making. The Salesforce development comprises both the tower and the transit center, where PCPA has integrated planning, architecture, transportation, and landscape design to mark a new chapter in American urban development.
Located in San Francisco, California, just across the street from the central business district and adjacent to the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, the Salesforce development defines the core of the new Transbay district. Facing the waterfront, the tower features a total gross floor area of approximately 130,000 square meters and is named after its anchor tenant, the Fortune 500 Silicon Valley tech giant Salesforce. The Salesforce Transit Center spans five stories above and below ground, housing 11 transit systems across a hub area exceeding one million square feet. Together, the tower and transit center form the centerpiece of the Transbay redevelopment plan, generating 27,000 jobs for San Francisco.
Standing 326 meters tall, the Salesforce Tower features a classic obelisk silhouette, with its 60 stories gradually tapering from base to top to create a slender, soaring volume. “The walls extend beyond the top floor to form a transparent crown that dissolves into the sky. The recessed vertical facets at the top of the tower glow at night,” PCPA explained.
At the base of the tower lies the Salesforce Transit Center, featuring a continuously undulating exterior wall inspired by the "Penrose tiling" designed by Sir Roger Penrose of Oxford University. This creates a continuous, soft, well-ventilated, and light-permeable building envelope. Inside, the main hall features a 36-meter-high atrium with rooftop skylights—the largest of which is named the "Light Column"—flooding every level with natural light.
The transit center is designed for seamless navigation. Large escalators in the ground-floor lobby lead directly to all levels. The second floor serves as the bus deck, utilizing an efficient, one-way loop system with a central boarding island wrapped by the bus lane. Passengers reach the central island via escalators to board and alight from either side, while buses exit via a ramp at the west end of the facility. The central concourse on the first basement level connects the ground floor to the train platforms, hosting retail spaces, ticketing, and bicycle parking. The "Light Column" extends the bright, warm atmosphere of the ground level down to this space. On the second basement level, passengers can access trains via three platforms, where six tracks will serve Caltrain and the California High-Speed Rail system.
The crowning jewel of the design is the Salesforce Transit Center’s rooftop park. San Francisco residents, local tenants, commuters, and tourists alike can experience this 1,400-foot-long elevated park, which spans five city blocks and showcases the diverse ecology of the Bay Area, from sand dunes and wetlands to oak groves. The rooftop park features 12 entry points, connecting to surrounding buildings via pedestrian bridges. Designed to accommodate both active and passive recreation, the park includes a 1,000-capacity amphitheater, a cafe, a children's playground, and several quiet areas for reading, dining, and casual conversation. The dynamic landscape is also meticulously choreographed, with interactive fountains dancing in response to the movement of buses below.
The transit center incorporates the latest environmental technologies, including one of the world’s largest geothermal heating and cooling systems and an integrated water reclamation system for graywater and stormwater reuse. The facility saves up to 9 million gallons (approximately 35,000 cubic meters) of water annually—enough to fill 144 Olympic-sized swimming pools. Its annual energy consumption is 25% lower than the 2008 Title 24 standards set by the California Energy Commission. Furthermore, the extensive vegetation in the rooftop park acts as a "green lung" for the city, filtering particulate matter to purify the air, providing natural cooling to reduce the heat island effect, and capturing stormwater for ecological filtration.
Departing from San Francisco’s historically low-density, low-rise, and car-dependent suburban sprawl, the Salesforce Transit Center, rooftop park, and tower represent a manifesto for urban regeneration. Rooted in transit-oriented development, the project harmonizes high-density, high-rise living with a sustainable and highly livable urban experience.
This article was written by 韩爽. The translation is powered by AI.
