“Harney Plaza’s central location on the University of San Francisco campus, and its adjacency to the John Lo Schiavo Center for Science and Innovation provided an opportunity for publicly accessible, sustainable design. New classroom space located at the garden level, below the main level of pedestrian traffic, subsequently serves as the foundation for both the newly paved and vegetated portions of the plaza. Shadow studies informed the design so that sun can drench the benches and skylights, which illuminate the laboratory spaces below, while shading in the vegetated area varies enough to allow for a wider variety of plants with different light requirements,” (City of San Francisco, see below).

The Harney Plaza building is the first constructed to meet LEED Gold standards at USF and features floor-to-ceiling windows, smart technology that opens and closes windows automatically for temperature, a 28,000-gallon cistern tank to collect rainwater for reuse, indigenous Northern California landscaping, andan intensive greenroof designed by INTERSTICE Architects and NBBJ.