US-based architecture firm Studio Gang has unveiled the images of Mira tower for San Francisco, the 40-storey tower will be made up of a series of twisting bay windows that are reinterpreted from San Francisco's early houses.

Located in the heart of San Francisco, the 400-foot tower is currently under construction at 280 Spear Street in the city's Transbay neighbourhood, just blocks from the Bay Bridge, Embarcadero, and Rincon Park.

The project will create a welcoming space to a new community in the evolving Transbay district and accommodate 392 units, with 40 percent designated below market rate.  

Responding to the needs for dense housing in San Francisco, the tower is proposed as a new model for sustainability, all while reinterpreting the city’s architectural traditions. In this regard, the studio transformed classical window bays, found in San Francisco's earlier houses, into new twisting windows that moves the tower to a some sort of complexity. 

"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," said the studio regarding the project. 

"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."

Thanks to a sophisticated curtain wall facade system, the tower 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 also 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. 

The tower meets the ground at a pleasant, human scale and offers retail space fronting Folsom and Main Streets, contributing new pedestrian amenities to a highly walkable area of the city with excellent transportation connections.

Studio Gang recently released images for its new tower in Toronto, the tower, called One Delisle, will reach at 158 meter and include 263 residential units as well as green terraces. One Delisle will be the first of the studio built in Toronto, Canada. The studio is also currently working on a new curvaceous tower in Los Angeles. 

Studio Gang, founded and led by Jeanne Gang, focuses on architecture and urbanism projects - ranging from high-rise to low-rise buildings. Studio Gang has offices in Chicago, New York, and San Francisco.

All images © Binyan 

> via Studio Gang