Silicon Valley Bank – San Francisco

LEED®Gold Award

Silicon Valley Bank, a unique global commercial bank focusing on investments in emerging technology and life science, wanted their San Francisco offices to mirror their clients’ culture while providing a sense of global reach and credibility in assessing worldwide financial markets.

A jeweled Faberge egg was the unlikely design inspiration for the sleek, contemporary space occupied by SVB Financial Group at San Francisco’s 555 Mission Street. The two-story suite was conceived as an articulated glass box nested within the etched glass-walled building—the whole office appearing to float within the forest of surrounding buildings.

SVB had asked for a contemporary design reflecting its prominence in the emerging technology community and suitable for their sophisticated international clients—a flexible, open design that invited movement and collaboration. The design features a glass prefab wall system for all private offices which are wrapped around the building’s core. The walls are etched with a rhythmic pattern and gridded with aluminum as an expression of the building skin. A handful of private offices are reserved for visitors and traveling upper management. Collaboration lounges are integrated into open areas. A spacious kitchen with bar seating overlooks the South of Market neighborhood, encouraging casual meetings. Everywhere there is light and enviable views of the San Francisco skyline.

The project design achieved maximum efficiency for the mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems, prompting a LEED® Gold Certification by the US Green Building Council.

FENNIE+MEHL have designed offices for us in San Francisco, Menlo Park and Austin because they understand us and the way we work with clients. The San Francisco office is a beautiful jewel.

Tom Suro, former Workplace Creation Program Director 

Photography: Jasper Sanidad, J. Edgar Fennie Jr.