Potrero Power Station

The Power Station will transform the city of San Francisco’s waterfront, adding 6 acres of parks, multiple pedestrian paths and 2,600 mixed-use and mixed-income units. The development will be an example for how to convert a formerly polluting power plant into a healthy and sustainable community.

Atelier Ten developed an approach to better roof standards which will inform a roofscape that balances renewable energy generation and living roof coverage. The project is considering the best practices for incorporating photovoltaic panels, living roof permanent irrigation, living roof pollinator habitat, community gardens and urban agriculture onto the roofs. In addition to providing stormwater management and biodiversity, living roofs can also enhance the usable spaces located on the roof.

Atelier Ten also worked with the City of San Francisco to pilot the city’s Sustainable Neighborhood Framework on the Power Station. The findings of Atelier Ten’s preliminary Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions assessment in the master plan phase influenced GHG-reduction strategies including developing a transportation management plan and addressing building energy GHGs with a thermal energy approach that pairs buildings of different uses in a way that reduces heating and cooling energy use and building electrification. The energy model showed that the combination of the shared thermal energy plants and electrified buildings reduced building related GHGs by approximately 30%.