SF State Downtown Campus
Graduate School of Business
and College of Extended Learning
San Francisco, CA

The San Francisco State University Downtown Campus project consisted of developing approximately 130,000 square feet in the new Westfield Centre to house the College of Extended Learning, the College of Business MBA programs, and various administrative departments. The site was the former home to the Emporium department store and features the original 1908 dome and street façade. With access to public transit, restaurants, shopping and entertainment, SFSU seized the opportunity to create a major academic presence in the heart of the business community. Since many of the students attending classes at the campus are working professionals, the design team realized the interior spaces needed to promote the Downtown Campus as a communal learning place for those commuting between school and the office. Huntsman achieved this goal by incorporating collaborative learning spaces, user-instructional services and spaces, meeting rooms and theater-style classrooms on two floors of the Centre, while maintaining a campus atmosphere.

Huntsman developed a clear circulation concept reinforced by a color wayfinding system that orients students, faculty and staff in relation to the building's historic dome. North of the dome, classroom and office entrances are noted in blue to refer to the San Francisco Bay. Rooms on the East side of the building refer to the Sierras with the use of green, while aqua alludes to the Pacific Ocean to the West. Where the three zones intersect, "interior quads," serve as communal lounges where students can work collaboratively or take a break with views out to the shopping center's atrium below.

Awards
McGraw Hill Construction, California Construction Magazine, Best of 2007, Higher Education Award of Merit, December 2007

Publications
"One Size Fits Most," College Planning & Management, March 2007

Completion Date: January 2007
Size: 130,000sf

photography by Sharon Risedorph