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Westfield San Francisco Centre

San Francisco, California

The San Francisco Emporium Building has been restored to its original glory. Originally built in 1896, an earthquake and fire destroyed most of the building in 1906, leaving the historic Beaux arts façade.  The building has been renovated several times and has now been developed by Forest City Enterprises and Westfield Corporation.  The new $420 million project joins the Emporium Building with the adjacent San Francisco Centre.  It occupies 1.5 million square feet, and contains 170 exclusive boutiques and specialty stores including Bloomingdale's and Nordstrom, first class office space, a collection of fine dining, a food emporium housing a gourmet market and 16 casual gourmet restaurants, and a state-of the-art multiplex cinema.  The design has been carefully considered to retain as many of the original historic elements as possible, while also addressing contemporary life.  The landmark rotunda and dome has been raised 54 feet from the ground to the 4th level, and a 45 foot colonnade unifies the space.

HLB's collaboration with KA Incorporated and RTKL includes lighting design for the historic rotunda, public spaces, centre concourse, food emporium, building entrances and façade lighting.  The historic and new architectural elements of the project are each receiving special lighting considerations.  Additionally, colored light is being used to create a different atmosphere for evening activities, such as the cinema and the food emporium.

The lighting design for this project has been recognized with an IIDA Award of Merit.

HLB also collaborated with Federated Department Stores on the lighting design for the new five-story Bloomingdale's at the San Francisco Centre.  This 360,000 square foot West Coast Flagship store measures second in size only to the New York store.