303 Second Street, San Francisco

In 2010 Gensler was appointed to reposition an entire block of San Francisco's rapidly developing southern financial district. The aim was to attract new retail and workplace tenants and to open the site to the surrounding community.

The two lobbies were reopened with new glazing, extended by outdoor seating partly sheltered under a glass canopy. The project's environmental approach earned it LEED-EB Gold and Energy Star certification.

The outdoor seating and tables are made from Kebony Clear, protected with a Penofin sealer. Sealing is not necessary for modified wood — left natural, it weathers to a silver-grey patina — but it allows the original brown tone to be retained. The published photographs were taken eight years after construction and document how the sealed material has behaved over that period.