201 Mission Street – Inverted elevation San Francisco, U.S.
In downtown San Francisco, the Schindler team is taking on a rare project. They’re extending nine elevators – not upward, but downward. The reason for this unique project? An earthquake.
It’s an unusual sight. In the elevator shaft, the guide rails end far above the heads of the technicians, who are busy lowering the elevator shafts by one floor, extending the vertical rails and hoist ropes, connecting cable bundles, positioning additional crossbeams in the shaft, and creating a new shaft access point. They’re also integrating a new version of Schindler PORT and replacing and adapting all the control features.
A colossal undertaking
The technicians are tackling the tricky task one elevator at a time. "If it sounds like a huge operation, that’s because it is one!" says Jeffrey Rooney, Schindler Foreman at 201 Mission Street. An experienced technician with specialist electronics training, Jeffrey was brought to San Francisco from nearby San José by the superintendent in charge of 201 Mission Street, Heath Myers. It was the right decision.
Jeffrey and his team are handling this modernization task with confidence and skill," says Heath Myers, the superintendent in charge of 201 Mission Street.
The project team includes technicians from the Bay Area, Texas, and Hawaii. Reese Littleton, a Schindler Technician from Houston, speaks on behalf of his colleagues. "This project is truly unique. I’ve never done anything like it – we’re turning everything upside down. And I’m learning something new every day."
On shaking ground
The reason for this extraordinary project is as surprising as it is logical. The 127-meter-tall Providian Financial Building, then called the Pacific Gateway Building, was completed in 1981, and was flanked by the double-deck Embarcadero Freeway, which divided the city. Visitors entered the building from this elevated highway, stepping into the lobby located one level up from the first floor. The low-rise elevators served the first 18 floors, while the high-rise elevators served floors 19-30.
That was until October 17, 1989, when 15 seconds changed everything. The Loma Prieta earthquake destroyed the Embarcadero Freeway, and the city demolished it entirely in 1991. Suddenly, the entrance to 201 Mission Street was at street level – without an elevator. Solutions were discussed and discarded until a temporary solution was agreed upon – two escalators were installed to take people up to the lobby. Eventually the lobby was rebuilt on the floor below and the elevators extended accordingly.
A one-of-a-kind project
There’s no blueprint for a retrofit like this. Jeffrey and his team are testing some of the technical solutions for the very first time. The walls of their makeshift workshop are covered with sketches and schematic drawings, and tool prototypes are stacked on the shelves. "Sometimes I wake up at two in the morning with a new idea," Jeffrey says with a smile. "In my 30 years in the elevator industry, I’ve never heard of such an intervention in a building this tall," says Jeffrey. "And my father and my uncles, who were all elevator mechanics, have never mentioned anything like this either."
I’m really excited about completing this one-of-a-kind challenge," Jeff says.