San Francisco Federal Building

About

The Speaker Nancy Pelosi Federal Building, formally the San Francisco Federal Building, is an 18-story, 234 ft-tall (71.3 m) building at the corner of Mission and 7th streets in the South of Market neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The federal building was designed by the Morphosis architectural firm, as a supplement to the Phillip Burton Federal Building several blocks away. Thom Mayne of Morphosis designed the building using a juxtaposition of gray concrete walls, perforated metal panels, and custom, faceted wood ceilings.

The building was designed to be a 'green' building consuming less than half the power of a standard office tower. Utilizing natural light to illuminate 80 percent of the building helped it achieve worldwide recognition as the first Federal Building to be certified under the USGBC's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) criteria. Its southern wall is draped with translucent panels of perforated stainless steel (3 by 8 feet (0.91 by 2.44 m) in size), intended to accumulate solar heat and thereby create an upward air flow, which in turn causes cooler air to enter the building through sensor-controlled windows, achieving an air conditioning effect.