For this fourth in a series of improvements to Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) substations, Andrew Wolfram, Paul Cooper, and Justin Blinn of TEF designed this latest new project to meet the practical needs of the utility giant while enhancing the surrounding community and achieving net-zero energy consumption.
Located in the Uptown Tenderloin Historic District, PG&E’s first net zero switchgear building is an expansion of the original 1962 mid-century substation structure.
TEF Design conceived a two-story addition that totals 12,200 square feet (1,133 square meters). The extension rises 50 feet (15 meters) at its highest point.
The building has a steel frame and concrete walls.
A fine-grained, metal-mesh screen marks the point where the new building meets the old.
Its faceted facade—an abstraction of the city’s power grid—features an ever-changing expression of the sun’s energy throughout the day and pulsating patterns of LED lights after sundown.
The one-story plus basement addition safely houses critical electrical infrastructure as well as storage and support space.
Street-facing walls are wrapped in three types of glass-fiber-reinforced-polymer (GFRP) panels: sloped, perforated and ribbed. The different styles form a faceted surface that belies modest materiality.
Each panel is individually crafted and unique, with ribs that cast linear shadow patterns in sunlight, creating an ever-changing surface throughout the day and year,
The sloped ones are embedded with lighting fixtures that pulsate at night, “expressing the city’s dynamic electrical power grid.
On the western elevation, the team created a green wall, with plants arranged in a geometric pattern that echoes the faceted panels.
The towering green wall provides biophilic relief to the dense urban neighborhood, advancing the utility giant’s commitment to enhancing the communities it serves.
Inside the building, which houses electrical switchgear, there are ceiling heights of 25 feet (7.6 meters).
And, rooftop solar panels meet all the energy needs of the facility, the first Net-Zero electrical switchgear building in the US certified by the International Living Future Institute’s (ILFI) Zero Energy Building (ZEB) Certification™ of the Living Building Challenge.
Power is supplied by a 60-kilowatt array of solar panels.
The team also incorporated elements to help reduce energy consumption that was informed by a rigorous research process.
Project: Larkin Street Substation Architects: TEF Design Design Team: Andrew Wolfram, Paul Cooper, and Justin Blinn Landscape Architects: Creo Landscape General Contractor: Plant Construction Company Civil Engineers: BFK Engineers Structural Engineers: Rutherford + Chekene MEP Engineers: MHC Engineers Lighting Consultants: Horton Lees Brogden Lighting Design Utility Consultant/Owner’s Representative: Urb-in Sustainability Consultant: Thornton Thomasetti Client: Pacific Gas and Electric (PG & E) Photographers: Mikiko Kikuyama
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