Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 1987 - 12

DESIGN OF THE SAN FRANCISCO BALLET ASSOCIATION BUILDING

to the windows and will block out outdoor light when
desired.
Dancer support facilities are located on the third floor
below the dance studios and are shared as needed,
though they are off-limits to School dancers. Lounge,
canteen, lockers, showers, medical treatment, and spa
areas are interwoven as one general area with the lounge
as its hub.
Scenery, costumes, and shoes are stored in a warehouse elsewhere in the city. School facilities occupy the
first and second floors and in many ways are modified
versions of the company areas above. Three school studios range in size from 30' by 52' to 40' by 55', and often
are used by the company.
The growing administrative needs of a sizable and
dynamic ballet company are reflected in the office areas
which in many ways resemble those of a business, yet
have a distinctive character: fund-raising, ticket sales,
and marketing require facilities for computers and telephone solicitation; work areas for volunteers, public relations, and staff; and conference or group work areas for
SFBA Board business, administration, business development, and artistic administration. Since a major effort in
any of these activities can require extra space, it was
important to facilitate shared use.
The request for a viewing room overlooking company
studios on the fourth floor underscores the public aspect
of a modern ballet company - its need to be visible. The
room was arranged so that dancers might be observed
without interference. In this way potential donors, parents, press, or tour groups could witness dancers and
artistic staff at work, and feel intimately involved with
the on-going activities of the company.
THE PUBLIC FACE

To contain these disparate spaces - company, school, administration-within a single, visually coherent building envelope was one of the principal design problems.
We opted for knitting the space together with a single
building facade whose character, however, shifts across
that length. To the left-the studio site-the ordering
process of a classical facade was used, including a
striated base which roots this section to the ground. It is
as if the undulations of the dance floor needed somehow
to be counteracted and contained by sheer mass. To the
right the facade is transformed with penetrating balconies, windows, and voids. In contrast to the weightiness of the rest of the building, it seems to float while
still echoing the horizontal and vertical elements which
order the entire facade.
Functionally, this transformation in character across
the facade suits the nature of the spaces within. Symbolically, it expresses the nature of dance which achieves
lightness and grace through long adherence to a structured, classical process of training, invariant and repetitious, which then suddenly is transformed by an
infusion of human intelligence into something unusual,
something which transcends its own rules and creates
an altogether different feeling.
In a building whose facade is critical to the urban
context, the treatment becomes a major concern, and
the architect must probably err in achieving a decorative
effect at the expense of simplicity and clarity, or in
10

TD&T· SUMMER 1987

(Top) North Elevation, (middle) East Elevation and (bottom) Longitudinal
Section of the San Francisco Ballet Association Building

achieving coherence at the expense of visual interest. I
chose those elements that best capture the spirit of both
the classical Civic Center and dance today.*

Beverly Willis, FA/A, has worked for over twenty years
as an architect. Her work has ranged from prototype
designs for preservation in historic districts to extensive
mixed-use urban developments.

PROJECT FACT SHEET

Project
Location

Client
Project Cost
Description

San Francisco Ballet Building
455 Franklin Street
San Francisco Civic Center
San Francisco, California
San Francisco Ballet Association
S6.6 million
Combined Facility
* Ballet Company
* Executive Offices
* Ballet School
Building Statistics:
* square feet - 65,500
* building height - 96 ft. (4 stories)
* elevators - 2
* stair towers-3

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