Lands End Lookout in San Francisco Aiming for LEED Platinum

Perched at the edge of one of the most impressive overlooks in San Francisco, <a href="http://www.ehdd.com/work/lands-end-lookout">Lands End Lookout</a> is a new building at the edge of human culture and nature that provides visitors with a place to get a break from the cold pacific fog. The small, modern building, which is currently seeking LEED Platinum certification, brings a visitor center, cafe and much-needed bathrooms to <a href="http://parksconservancy.org/visit/park-sites/lands-end.html">the popular park</a>, while limiting its impact on the natural landscape. As part of AIA SF's 9th annual <a href="http://www.aiasf.org/programs/architecture-and-the-city/">Architecture and the City</a> festival, Phoebe Schenker from architecture firm <a href="http://www.ehdd.com/">EHDD</a> led a tour of the new building. Read on for a closer look!

Because of its location overlooking the Pacific Ocean and the ruins of the Sutro Baths in the cove below, Lands End Outlook was designed as a space that visitors will quickly step into to get a map, grab a snack, or use the restroom.

It's a gateway to the outdoors, which is partly why the 4,150-square-foot structure is so small -- visitors are expected to spend only a short amount of time in the building, on the way to or from the park.

the building's siding consists of reclaimed redwood from an old saw mill on the north coast, the beautiful doorway is made of curly redwood that was salvaged from the Redwood Room Bar at the nearby Cliff House.

The building doesn't just take advantage of natural daylighting, it also harnesses the prevailing winds, allowing air to pass under the building in order to naturally cool it.

During the tour, Schenker explained that EHDD used passive design techniques to naturally heat and cool the building.

The building was originally expected to achieve LEED Gold certification, but that estimate was a bit conservative -- Schenker says that it is now expected to get LEED Platinum.

EHDD is a firm that specializes in aquarium design (the Monterey Bay Aquarium is one of the firm's more famous commissions), and because of its experience working with salt water, the firm was able to design Lands End Lookout to withstand the salt in the air at Lands End.

San Francisco-based SURFACEDESIGN INC was the project's landscape designer, and the firm added some very notable contributions.

And in one of the building's most interesting design features, salvaged replicas of original lion statues from the Sutro Baths have been installed on the building's exterior and at the entrance.

Because the park is operated by the National Park Service, all plants must be native. But, as Schenker explained, NPS's definition of 'native' is much stricter than most -- all plants used in the landscape were germinated from seeds found on-site and grown in a nursery in the nearby Presidio.

Historical slides show what the cove below looked like more than 100 years ago.

Reclaimed Monterey cypress wood was used in the benches; reclaimed cedar was used for fencing; and repurposed oyster shells that were found on-site were used as mulch.

The new facility provides much-needed public restrooms to the popular park. (Before there were only a couple of portable outhouses.)