Landscape Information
Part of the Golden Gateway development project, this roof garden plaza was designed in 1967 by landscape architects Sasaki, Walker and Associates in conjunction with architects Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, who designed the Alcoa building, which the plaza surrounds. The intent of the formal plan for the garden squares, built on top of parallel, two-story parking garages, was to create the effect of an outdoor sculpture museum around the base of the Alcoa building. Major artworks are by Marino Marini, Henry Moore, Charles Perry, and Jan Peter Stern; the fountain was designed by Robert Woodward. Situated on both sides of the office tower, rectilinear lawn panels are divided by wide concrete paths. The centerpiece of each side is a sleek one-story building of glass and brick, used as a restaurant and bank respectively. The east side of the plaza includes Woodward’s signature fountain aligned with the Alcoa building’s main entrance, while the west side has a more heavily-vegetated western edge along Battery Street. The plaza is connected with Embarcadero Center and Golden Gateway Center via elevated pedestrian bridges.
