Like other famous structures of comparable dimensions, the 48-storey Transamerica Pyramid, a revolutionary modernist skyscraper and San Francisco icon, has buried a little history under the ground floor.
[Photo: Nils Huenerfuerst/Unsplash]
A recently discovered time capsule, buried in 1974 and discovers during a recent renovation round, offers a picture of the past of San Francisco. The structure of the structure – then a parking space – was initially part of the original coastline of the city that smelled to historical significance, of the growth of the city as a shipping and bank capital. The capsule even contains a recipe for Pisco Punch, a cocktail invented in the nearby bank exchange saloon, site of the original stock exchange of the city.
[Photo: courtesy SHVO]
Part of an exhibition In the opening of the building that will be opened on 18 May, the contents of the Time Capsule are timeless: photos of the steel frame of the building start to stretch the heavenly, or vintage news clippings and images of the city after the last flourishing of the city. But within the cylindrical steel capsule, which looks a bit like a large propane tank, there is also a story about building in America, and how that has changed radically in the last 50 years.
[Photo: courtesy SHVO]
The battle for the permit and construction of the Transamerica pyramid in San Francisco from 1969 to 1972 offers a flashback to a different time in development, real estate and construction. The tower was presented and built in just three years, a sprint compared to the time it is needed today to build a characteristic part of a skyline of the city. Only the construction for the One World Trade in New York City lasted eight years; The Comcast Tech Center in Philadelphia, had problems with cracks in a part of the steel frameLast five years; And the St. Regis in Chicago lasted four years. An analysis of high -rise buildings through the construction of building physics The building speeds fell considerably in the last century, in many cases that the time needed to end to end around 50%.
[Photo: courtesy SHVO]
Buildings are more complex And nowadays require more allowance, including complicated processes for environmental assessment. This time -consuming development process has led to a recoil against what opponents call choking building regulations. It has also led to more involvement of architects around code reform problems, including lifli rules and exit stairs, and the formation of the abundance diary, a center-left push by experts such as Ezra Klein to have the nation rebuilt quickly.
“The pace of approval and the construction here is incredible,” says developer Michael SHVO, who paid $ 650 million to acquire the Transamerica Pyramid in 2020, at the depths of the Covid Office Freeze … “The mayor was determined to get this thing good to get this light to be built as soon as they were built to be built as soon as they were built to be built, as soon as they were to be built. doing. ”
[Photo: courtesy SHVO]A more human debate
Transamerica was then a huge business conglomerate with interests in banking, financial services and insurance. According to the former Public Relations employee John Krizek, who worked for Transamerica during the construction of the pyramid and eventually created the time capsule, the back and forth between protesters and developers at the time was more more human, respectable and more amusant.
The conversation about the Transamerica pyramid was a larger debate about images, architecture and aesthetics at the time. The tower was not only a unique shape, but would tower above the skyline. It would be the highest building in the city and would not be surpassed to the Salesforce Tower of 2018.
[Photo: courtesy SHVO]
Artists and members of the community protested against the building for aesthetic reasons and general distrust of large companies. Posters passed the city at that time that “San Francisco gets the shaft” or “artists against the ice brick”. The then planning director of the city called The Pyramid, designed by architect William Pereira, “Inhumane.”
[Photo: courtesy SHVO]
During early street protests for the office of the company, Transamerica -Sexecs sent secretaries to bring iced tea to the demonstrators who are outside. During another protest, Krizek and his colleagues printed fake fortu cookies in a nearby Chinatown bakery, which frantically filled messages such as “Transamerica-no square outfit” or “people who protest against pyramid search Che-Ops-publicity.”
Krizek recalled that the company was determined to break the land in December 1969. The building plan was announced in January of that year and there was a tax benefit worth around $ 750,000 that ended at the end of December. Because Krizek and his colleagues knew that as soon as the company received approval to build, there would be an appeal, they were planning to move quickly and break territory before the paperwork was submitted. To go off any challenges, they organized a tractor and truck near the site and sent someone to pick up the approval during the lunch break of the afternoon; They were able to get a time -stamped photo of someone who digs on the site, while those who were against the project against the project saw their appeal slower when Staffer enjoyed their lunch.
“The emotions around this building, I have never seen this for another building in the world,” says SHVO. “Today’s debates are more practical; this structure will block my display or throw a shadow. You can’t say that about this building, it was a pyramid that was designed to leave the light to the street level. It is not blocking a view, the only thing people could complain about was this idea of the manhatanization of San Francisco.”
Originally, Pereira’s design was intended for a new building for ABC in New York City. The network passed the project and considered the design too futuristic and went with the vision of another architect. Nowadays, the Transamerica Pyramid stands as an icon in San Francisco, with 80% of the space that is rented in a challenging office market. The ABC building chose instead? It has been demolished since then.
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