Taper Union Tower

The design for the Taper Union Tower is largely a response to surrounding site conditions to produce a building that is embedded within the existing urban fabric. The massing of the tower results from two sets of slices, creating wider pedestrian paths at the ground floor and pulling away from the street corner to increase sky exposure.

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The primary program volumes are inserted into the tower following the language of tapering derived from the massing parti. At the ground floor, a grand lobby creates a passage connecting the street corner to the adjacent alleyway and serves as a place of protest for union members. The library faces the Transbay Transit Center framing views of Salesforce Park. As the main gathering venue, the auditorium appears truly like a foreign object that is embedded into the building, cladded in corten to highlight the program. The auditorium projects out towards the office skyscraper across the street, using the black facade as a backdrop while creating a sense of tension between the corporate and union towers.

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The remaining space in the lower third of the tower is dedicated to a museum of union art and history. The upper levels have public and private workspaces as well as outdoor terraces, which wrap around the library. CLT panels are used to divide offices and meeting rooms, which serve as important structural elements while also creating a gridded facade that reflects the high level of union activity.