The shiny new glass tower at the corner of Golden Gate and Polk is set to be the greenest building in the country, once it becomes fully operational and inhabited by the S.F. Public Utilities Commission at the end of July. But green comes at a price! The building cost $202 million to build, despite only being thirteen stories tall, and that's pretty expensive for a city government agency. They do have 900 employees to put in the offices, and as a public utility commission they are setting a good example for resource conservation the building is expected to be cheaper to operate and maintain as time goes on, and will have saved rate-payers $500 million in energy and water savings... in 100 years.
The building was designed by a joint venture of two San Francisco−based firms: Kaplan McLaughlin Diaz (KMD) and Stevens + Associates.
Anyway, it's quite pretty! It will have a low-energy LED installation by artist Ned Kahn rising up the north face of the building. And it has wind turbines and solar panels that will provide about 7 percent of the building's energy needs, as well as a greywater system for recycling and conserving non-human-waste water.
The Business Times has a little write-up about the details, and a history of how the building came to be. Also, here are some more details from Architectural Record.
