Project Overview

Pacific Gateway, also known as Providian Financial Building, is an architecturally pleasing precast concrete structure that, at the time of completion, was one of the largest precast concrete projects in San Francisco. Located in the South of Market District, this high-rise office building features a unique trapezoidal design and stands as the 49^th tallest building in the city.

The building’s design features vertical column panels detailed as single-story panels. They were designed and manufactured as two-story panels to reduce the panel quantity and shorten the installation schedule. An innovative feature of the column panels was the integration of a bearing tube cast into the concrete return leg, utilizing a cutting-edge approach from the PCI Design Manual that was new at the time.

At the floor level, the precast concrete panels were relatively small, measuring approximately 5'x5', and the design included a large number of spandrel panels. The team, including precast concrete producer, Lafayette Manufacturing, developed a small mobile forklift/crane that was light enough to install the panels from the floor while the tower crane installed the column panels. This method ensured a continuous panel installation process while minimizing reliance on the tower crane, optimizing both time and resources.

Precast Concrete Producer:

Lafayette Manufacturing, Hayward, Calif.

Key Project Attributes

• Completed in 1980.
• 49^th tallest building in San Francisco.

Project/Precast Scope

• A creative trapezoidal design with architectural precast concrete.
• Created a small light mobile forklift/crane to install the panels from the floor.