San Francisco Conservatory of Music – Ute & William Bowes Jr. Center for Performing Arts

2024 Design Awards Merit Recipient

San Francisco Conservatory of Music – Ute & William Bowes Jr. Center for Performing Arts

The San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s (SFCM) Bowes Center is a dynamic social and cultural destination that melds musical education, performance, and public experience. The new 160,000 sf building is designed as a “vertical campus” that incorporates housing, dining, classrooms, rehearsal rooms, performances spaces, faculty offices, and a radio station under one roof. The dense urban setting and the high cost of land in San Francisco inspired the combination of a multitude of uses on the site, building up instead of out. Set within the historic Civic Center’s cultural and arts district, the Bowes Center blends and asserts itself through compatible materials and proportions that respond to the classical orders of its Beaux Arts surrounds.

Housing equity is a focus of the project. Student housing suites and common spaces are dispersed throughout the twelve-story building, providing affordable housing for SFCM’s 400+ music students in the heart of the arts district. 27 rent-stabilized apartments on the third and fourth floors replace units from the site’s previous building, with prior tenants living in the new building at their old rents.

The base of the new building is lined with highly transparent low-iron glass to visually reveal the creative activities occurring within, serving to draw the public in to the hundreds of free performances held on-site each year. On the top floor, a double-height performance space cantilevers over Van Ness Avenue, making a visual connection across the street to Davies Symphony Hall and the iconic dome of City Hall.

//framework for design excellence measures

Measure 1: Design for Integration

Occupant health and comfort was a focus of the building envelope design. The window-to-wall ratio was balanced between heavily insulated areas of solid wall and highly efficient glazing at the transparent windows to achieve visual openness while maintaining thermal performance and acoustical mitigation of the urban noise outside. Although the design of the building began prior to the current concerns of annual wildfire smoke and a worldwide pandemic, it incorporated increased filtration of all supply air systems to promote occupant health and well-being. Each residential unit has a dedicated filtered air intake that is so tightly integrated into the façade it appears invisible to the naked eye.

Measure 2: Design for Equitable Communities

Community engagement was not part of the design process, but members of the Conservatory community (faculty, staff and students) were consulted throughout the design process and their feedback was incorporated into the design of the building and systems.

The Bowes Center contributes to the surrounding arts community by offering an affordable and accessible alternative to the nearby major arts institutions. Everyone from the community is welcome inside the Bowes Center to experience classical and jazz music being performed by the next generation of world-class musicians.

Measure 3: Design for Ecosystems

Stormwater treatment is integral to the landscape design. The large planters with vine walls, tall evergreen and deciduous shrubs, medium grasses and ground covers on the 12th floor terrace provide a vegetated respite. Seating and fire pits have been integrated into the planters, providing social and programming opportunity, while also treating the storm water run-off from the roof. The upper roof level consists of an extensive green roof consisting of low planters with succulents and medium sized shrubs, to reduce the impermeable surface. All plantings are drought resistant.

Measure 4: Design for Water

Landscaping was designed around drought-tolerant species to reduce water usage. Stormwater is retained on-site via green roofs and flow-through planters, decreasing demand on the city sewer system.

Measure 5: Design for Economy

As a nonprofit, SFCM and their donors were very focused on directing project funds toward the aspects of the project that will best promote their mission and values. While the cost per square foot is on the high end, this is because the project includes state-of-the-art performance spaces for students’ use. The majority of the building consists of affordable student housing and rent-stabilized apartment housing, and the project budget was carefully tracked to ensure that durable materials were used throughout in order to achieve lasting value for SFCM and its residents.

Measure 6: Design for Energy

The energy performance was designed to exceed the requirements of the SF Green Building Ordinance, which is more stringent than the statewide Title 24 energy code. The high-performance building envelope was designed to serve double duty: increased insulation offers better thermal performance while also controlling acoustics and decreasing the perception of environmental noise inside the building. SFCM saves energy by utilizing highly efficient chilled and hot water plants. The energy model was used to determine the impact of external shading in the performance hall. It was found that external shading helped reduce both annual and peak cooling energy.

Measure 7: Design for Well-Being

The Bowes Center was designed to maximize views and connection to the surrounding city. Residential units have large operable windows to provide ample daylight and fresh air, and all spaces have independent temperature controls with supply air routed through MERV 13 filters for occupant health. Daylighting analysis was performed to ensure that the glass-enclosed performance spaces could maintain their connection to the city outside while minimizing glare and solar heat gain.

Measure 8: Design for Resources

Construction of the Bowes Center started with demolition of two dilapidated structures that had far outlived their useful lives. Demolition debris was diverted from landfill in accordance with the City of San Francisco’s strict Green Building Ordinance requirements. As a concrete building, the embodied carbon is a concern and the design team sought to offset the embodied carbon by specifying concrete mixes with high percentages of fly ash and slag.

Measure 9: Design for Change

Located in the heart of San Francisco, the SFCM Bowes Center is designed to perform dynamically in the inevitable event of a large earthquake. Wildfire smoke is an increasing concern for the Bay Area, and by providing each MERV-13 filters at each source of supply air, residents’ and other users’ health is taken into account. Residents benefitted from enhanced ventilation rates and enhanced filtration when move-in coincided with the Covid-19 pandemic.

Measure 10: Design for Discovery

While there has not yet been a formal post-occupancy evaluation conducted on the project, the design team has been in close contact with the building users and facilities team since it has opened to discuss operations-related items, including what has worked well and what hasn’t. Overall, the building has been performing as intended. There have been a few areas where spaces needed to be modified in order to address acoustical issues, by adding some additional acoustical wall panels. There have also been some modifications needed to MEP components to improve access for ongoing maintenance.