Tour of Verde at Mission Rock

Designed by Studio Gang, Verde is a new mixed-use tower in Mission Rock, a 28-acre redevelopment on the San Francisco waterfront. The latest addition to the neighborhood, Verde is designed to be Mission Rock’s central social hub and embrace the city’s indoor-outdoor lifestyle. Verde is the fourth and final building to be completed in Phase One of Mission Rock, which will be built out in several phases guided by a set of design principles developed by a design cohort led by Studio Gang.
Located in the heart of the Mission Rock neighborhood, Verde takes its name from its distinctive, green-colored glazed ceramic cladding, which allows for variations in color and depth at multiple scales. The 23-story building provides 254 new residential units - 59 of which are designated for middle income households at below market rents, creating new and more affordable options in a city challenged with a housing shortage.
Verde also features a ground-level café, shops, and micro-activations that include a water bottle refill station and a living wall, which add to the neighborhood’s character and public realm. Resident amenities include a fitness center, lounges, a games room, a golf simulator, and a shared outdoor dining space equipped with a barbecue and firepit. A sky deck on the tower’s roof provides another space for residents to take in views of Oracle Park, the Bay, and the city’s skyline.
The building also prioritizes healthy living, climate resiliency, energy conservation, and increased biodiversity. Conveniently located near major public transit nodes, the site offers access to the waterfront Bay Trail and over 250 bicycle parking spaces to encourage alternative and active modes of transportation. The development is elevated five feet above sea level to ensure protection against future sea level rise and storm surges. The building reuses and recycles greywater for irrigation and non-potable needs, as well as sources hot and cold water from a District Energy Plant. Planted with regionally appropriate flora, the sky deck attracts birds, butterflies, and other pollinators to enhance urban biodiversity. The building is targeting LEED Gold certification.

L-R: Steve Wiesenthal, Jonathan Izen

Steve Wiesenthal, FAIA, is Studio Gang’s Campus Environments Principal and the leader of the firm’s San Francisco office. Energized by campuses that are devoted to the creation, questioning, and dissemination of knowledge, Steve has gained national recognition as a connector—of people and places, insight, and architecture—in the spirit of community. Prior to joining Studio Gang, Steve worked for more than twenty-five years as a university architect, leading the development and operations of the built environment during periods of significant growth at the University of Chicago, the University of California San Francisco, and the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center. At both UChicago and UCSF, Steve initiated their first campus-wide environmental sustainability programs. Early in his career, he worked for six years with influential designers Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates.

Architect Jonathan Izen is a Project Leader in Studio Gang’s San Francisco office, where he has been integral to the team designing Verde. Previously, he worked as a research assistant at the Center for Spatial Research at Columbia, using global and local datasets to study phenomena of the built environment.

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