Apple, Stonestown Galleria

San Francisco, CA

Client - Apple Inc.
Architect - MBH Architect

When Apple decided to expand its retail presence in an existing shopping complex, the company asked Murphy Burr Curry, Inc. to design a column-free venue in a large, available retail space. MBC and members of the MBH Architect team embraced the challenge, developing a plan for removing five structural columns to create 8,000 square feet of continuous ground-floor retail space. The already challenging project was further complicated by the discovery that two of the five columns were part of the building's primary lateral-force resisting system. MBC incorporated viscous dampers into the 60-foot-long transfer truss system to mitigate the seismic strain and preserve the building's existing seismic system. The construction, which caused minimal disruption for adjacent retailers and mall operators, was completed within five months' time allowing Apple to open the new store in time for the 2013 holiday season.