Basic Facts – Pier 15
- Opens Spring 2013
- 330,000 square feet of indoor/outdoor space
- Triples the exhibition space
- Doubles the number of classrooms
- Triples the capacity for teacher development
- Quadruples meeting space
- There are 1700 piles under Pier 15.
- Approximately 70 new steel pilings will be added, 30 of which are giant.
- Pier 15 was first built in 1915 and rebuilt in 1931.
Pier 17
- Built in 1912, Pier 17 is the third-oldest pier on the San Francisco waterfront.
- Pier 17, at approximately 110,000 square feet in footprint, provides 2.5 acres for future expansion.
- Pier 17 has the last remaining original fog horn.
The Pier 15 / 17 campus
- The total Pier 15/17 campus covers nine acres of waterfront.
- Raw space is almost five times larger than the Exploratorium’s current home at the Palace of Fine Arts.
- It is the length of one New York City block.
- The Exploratorium project will add 1.5 acres of publicly accessible open space to the waterfront.
- Over 8,000 square feet of income-generating space — a bayside and plaza-side café, as well as a publicly accessible Exploratorium store – will benefit the nonprofit museum.
Educational Impact
- Being at the hub of public transit increases Exploratorium accessibility and educational impact on teachers, kids and the community.
- Teacher capacity almost triples for regional and national teacher professional development programs — like the Teacher Institute.
- Classroom space doubles.
- A multi-purpose, 200-seat theater provides space for lectures, conferences, performances.
- Partnership with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA), the first of many strategic partnerships, brings climate and ocean sciences to Exploratorium audiences in a new way.
Construction
- Rehabilitation is in compliance with the Secretary of Interior’s standards for historic buildings.
- The deck between Piers 15 and 17 is being demolished from east to west.
- Four to six barges 60 to 100 feet-long engaged in the construction effort.
- Is on time and on budget.
Project Team
EHDD
Wilson Meany Sullivan (WMS)
Nibbi Brothers General Contractors
KPM Consulting
Economic and Fiscal Impacts
- 900 jobs from construction over two years (direct, indirect, induced) – SF/ABAG Region
- $300M short term economic impact from construction – SF/ABAG Region
- $28M annual increase in permanent long-term economic impact to SF/CA
- $1.4M net new total tax revenues to SF/CA
History
- San Francisco’s piers have served as centers of trade, transport and military logistics.
- Previous tenants included various shipping groups, steamship & navigation companies, tug & tow operators, industrial & office users, & a restaurant.
- During WWII, the piers were operated by the San Francisco Port of Embarkation (SFPE) for troops returning from the war.
- The SPFE was the principal U.S. Army operational center for the movement of supplies and soldiers to the Pacific theater during World War II.
- In 1955-56, Piers 15 and 17 were joined by a connecting wharf and adapted for the operation of trucking lines in addition to the Belt Railroad. (Exploratorium Pier 15 + 17 Reader, GLS Landscape Architecture, 11-24-04)
- Ghost graphic signs from Pier 15’s maritime history, uncovered in the construction, have been preserved in place on the eastern façade of Pier 15 – a portal to a bygone era.
Trivia
- There will be 35 types of glass.
- Planned number of carpet colors is 13.
- Planned number of paint colors is 41.
- Over six miles of dowels will connect the pier deck to the new concrete slab.
- Approximately 100 miles of rebar is being used in the construction.
See full press kit: Exploratorium Piers Construction Project and Sustainability Fact Sheet for additional information.
