Southline
Southline | South San Francisco, CA
Visible from Highway 101, Lane Partners' Southline development will transform the South San Francisco and San Bruno communities from an industrial patchwork with a sustainable, integrated campus. Uniquely located by San Francisco’s robust transit systems, this innovative mixed-use development creates a thriving transit-oriented campus accommodating tech and life sciences companies. The Southline development sets itself apart from the bustling South San Francisco biotech hub by setting a new live/work/play standard through its proximity to public transportation, San Francisco, and the surrounding amenity-rich neighborhoods.
Partners
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Client Lane Partners
Southline Campus
Spread across 31 acres, Southline is one of the largest developments in California’s Bay Area and will add seven new buildings totaling 2.8 million sq. ft. of additional Class A office and life sciences space. DPR Construction is currently building Phase 1 of the project, including Building 1, an Amenities Building and parking structure.
BUILDING 1
Building 1 is a 318,000-sq.-ft. Class A office building with a steel structure. Catering to technology and life sciences companies, the building design offers efficient and open floor plates ranging from 45,000 to 100,000 sq. ft with floor heights ranging from 16 to 18 ft. Sustainably focused, the building is designed to achieve LEED Gold and Fitwel 2-Star Certification.
AMENITIES BUILDING
Welcoming employees to the Southline campus, the single-story, 29,225-sq.-ft. mass timber Amenities Building includes a state-of-the-art fitness center, restaurant and bar, and outdoor terraces. This building is also designed to achieve LEED Gold Certification.
PARKING STRUCTURE
The new six-story, 289,000-sq.-ft. cast-in-place concrete parking structure will accommodate up to 987 vehicles.
Aerial View of Southline Campus - Rendering courtesy of DES Architects + Engineers
Building One - Photo courtesy of Danny Sandler
One-story mass timber Amenities Building - Photo courtesy of Danny Sandler
Six-story parking structure - Photo courtesy of Danny Sandler
Southline Courtyard - Rendering courtesy of DES Architects + Engineers
Optimizing Project Delivery
Like many developments in the Bay Area, Southline has been challenged with rising construction costs and materials delays stemming from the global pandemic. If not addressed, each challenge could have significantly impacted Phase 1 of the project, and the entire development. DPR leveraged its design-to-build approach to mitigate these challenges, optimize the construction process, identify cost savings, and create schedule efficiencies.
Design-to-build creates consistency and predictability in project delivery from initial concepts through occupancy. By applying principles of manufacturing with a builder’s mindset, the project team identified several opportunities across the Southline project to build structures more efficiently and at reduced cost.
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Exploring What's Possible with Mass Timber on Life Sciences Campus
Southline Pivoting to Mass Timber
Initially, Southline’s Amenities Building was designed to be built using a traditional steel structure. By sharing their subject matter and constructability expertise early in the design phase, DPR team members identified cost and schedule savings opportunities that could be achieved by changing the structural design from steel to mass timber.
As strong as steel but weighing considerably less, the mass timber structure allowed the team to use lighter foundations, reducing the building’s overall concrete costs. Mass timber’s natural warmth and comforting aesthetics eliminated the need for many interior finishes, like drywall, throughout the building. Limiting these finishes reduced the total cost of materials and the time required to complete the interior build-out.
In addition to helping achieve the building’s sustainability goals, switching to mass timber positively impacted the project by reducing the schedule duration.
Southline Refined Parking Structure Design
Working with GPLA, Inc., a strategic partner, DPR’s self-perform concrete team engaged the owner and design team before design documents were published to validate the design and parking programming.
A notable change was transitioning the structure’s design from a mat foundation to a grade beam foundation and concentrating footings underneath the walls and columns. This allowed the team to remove all unnecessary concrete that did not benefit the building structurally. The team recommended prefabricating the rebar cages required for the grade beams, streamlining the construction process and creating a safer onsite working environment.
The team also found opportunities by pulling all shear walls into the center of the building. This change allows for more air movement, daylight and an overall improved experience for the user. By taking the parking structure on with a design-to-build approach and sharing historical costs, constructability and engineering expertise, the team achieved significant cost and schedule savings.
Southline Pivoting to Mass Timber
Initially, Southline’s Amenities Building was designed to be built using a traditional steel structure. By sharing their subject matter and constructability expertise early in the design phase, DPR team members identified cost and schedule savings opportunities that could be achieved by changing the structural design from steel to mass timber.
As strong as steel but weighing considerably less, the mass timber structure allowed the team to use lighter foundations, reducing the building’s overall concrete costs. Mass timber’s natural warmth and comforting aesthetics eliminated the need for many interior finishes, like drywall, throughout the building. Limiting these finishes reduced the total cost of materials and the time required to complete the interior build-out.
In addition to helping achieve the building’s sustainability goals, switching to mass timber positively impacted the project by reducing the schedule duration.
Southline Refined Parking Structure Design
Working with GPLA, Inc., a strategic partner, DPR’s self-perform concrete team engaged the owner and design team before design documents were published to validate the design and parking programming.
A notable change was transitioning the structure’s design from a mat foundation to a grade beam foundation and concentrating footings underneath the walls and columns. This allowed the team to remove all unnecessary concrete that did not benefit the building structurally. The team recommended prefabricating the rebar cages required for the grade beams, streamlining the construction process and creating a safer onsite working environment.
The team also found opportunities by pulling all shear walls into the center of the building. This change allows for more air movement, daylight and an overall improved experience for the user. By taking the parking structure on with a design-to-build approach and sharing historical costs, constructability and engineering expertise, the team achieved significant cost and schedule savings.
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