Ferry Building North Arcade

Reviving Pedestrian Life along Embarcadero

  • client

    Equity Office Management

  • location

    San Francisco, CA

  • size

    870 SF

TEF transformed underutilized storage into lively retail space for local food vendors along San Francisco’s Embarcadero, within the landmark Ferry Building. The new steel and glass pavilions preserved the arcade’s historic openness, reactivating its arches with the pedestrian energy of decades past.

Designed for Everyday Use

Indoor marketplace corridor lined with food stalls, including Dandelion Chocolate and Marla Bakery, with customers gathered beneath pendant lights.
Marla Bakery café seating area with wood tables and benches, floral arrangements, string lights, and a bright blue accent wall.
Organic juice kiosk with a menu board, service window, neon “fresh” sign, and a customer ordering beside a yellow citrus mural.
Blade signage, suspended radiant heaters, and lighting animate the open display and seating areas fronting the Promenade. Sliding metal gates secure the four center kiosks after hours, while open display and seating areas at each end kiosk remain accessible to the public around the clock.

Reactivating the Historic North Arcade

A utilitarian storage structure, installed after the Ferry Building’s 2002 rehabilitation to address cost concerns, had left the Arcade frontage along the Embarcadero inert and uninviting. In early 2014, the building owners partnered with TEF to replace it, advancing the original vision of the rehabilitation, strengthening compliance with preservation goals, and creating a more vibrant, welcoming destination for pedestrians along the Promenade.

Dandelion Chocolate stand along an arched marketplace corridor, with a menu board, service window, and pedestrians passing through.
Busy indoor marketplace café with customers ordering at a coffee counter and gathering around wood tables beneath rows of pendant lights.

A Modular Approach to Design

The project comprises five new retail kiosks, designed as partial-height, free-standing pavilions that maintain the Arcade’s historic open-air experience while accommodating a range of tenants. The kiosks’ steel, glass, and bronze design offers a contemporary interpretation of the building’s industrial trusses and refined craftsmanship, preserving the Arcade’s historic openness, circulation pattern, and appearance from the Embarcadero. The design draws on both the classical character of the Ferry Building’s front facade and the industrial character of its interior nave.

Indoor marketplace corridor with black-framed food stalls, including a juice kiosk marked with an orange “SōW” sign, as customers order beneath industrial pendant lights.

Precision Within the Arches

TEF calibrated the geometry of the retail modules, along with their adjacent seating and display areas, to align with the rhythm of the Arcade’s arched openings, sequencing the kiosks to create a varied pattern of pedestrian activity along the Embarcadero promenade. Meeting City Health Department limits on pass-through window size while still achieving the openness tenants sought presented a design challenge—TEF addressed this by adding large, screened operable windows above the required pass-through openings, preserving the connection between kiosk and customer without departing from code.

Historic arched arcade with an open food stall, customers at the counter, and pedestrians and a cyclist passing along the sidewalk.
Casual café seating area with wood tables and benches, string lights, and people dining beside open arches overlooking the city street.

Modest Scale, Measurable Sustainability Gains

Despite its modest scale, the project incorporates sustainable design strategies on several fronts. The flexible, modular kiosk system accommodates a wide range of uses and brand customization without the need for additional renovation, while tankless water heaters and the elimination of air conditioning lower energy demand. The design also relies on durable, long-lasting materials, like painted steel, bronze, and glass, reflecting the view that the most sustainable projects are those built to last.

AWARDS

  • California Preservation Foundation
    2017 Preservation Design Award, Contextual Infill
San Francisco Ferry Building with its clock tower, arched façade, outdoor dining, and pedestrians along the waterfront promenade.

Team

Collaborators

  • Architect
    TEF
  • Structural Engineer
    Rutherford + Chekene
  • Mechanical Engineer
    MHC
  • Lighting Design
    HLB
  • Photographer
    Bret Janak and Natalie + Cody Gantz