Inside A Sleek High-Rise On San Francisco’s Waterfront

The owners of this luxurious dwelling on San Francisco’s waterfront kept their remodeling directive simple: “Make something amazing.” For a designer, it’s an order that’s both exciting (possibilities are endless) and intimidating (expectations are high). Combine all of that with the limitations of working in a high-rise building, and you have a high-stakes situation. However, when the request came to designer David Oldroyd and his team, they were ready for the task. “When dealing with constraints, we do brilliant work,” he says.

The firm’s reputation for highly detailed, artistic spaces that are modern and refined attracted the clients, a couple who also reside in a traditional house in Atherton. They envisioned their new San Francisco home (located on the Embarcadero in One Steuart Lane, a building designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill) as an urban retreat and let the design team know it was a place where there would be “no kids and no pets.” With that in mind, Oldroyd, designer Tomás Machuca-Grebe and architectural designer Marwan Mohammed set about creating an adult haven for two, filled with beautiful elements.

When he began the project, Oldroyd took the building itself into consideration. Although it was just finished in 2021, its distinctive form resembling an irregular stack of multipaned boxes has already made the structure a landmark. “The exterior, the lobby and the amenity spaces are beautiful,” Oldroyd says. “But what most appealed to the owners are the massive glass doors in the unit that roll aside to make a 9-foot-wide corner opening between the living room and the generous outdoor terrace. The views and connection to the water here are unparalleled.” To maximize those views, Oldroyd reimagined the residence as a one-bedroom dwelling with an expansive open plan. With general contractor Ken Baxter, he took most of the condominium down to the studs and started over, rebuilding it to the same high standards as the building’s public spaces and turning the guest bedroom into a cozy den designed for “putting on slippers and watching television after a night out,” Oldroyd notes. When guests are present, a discreet Murphy bed offers a comfortable spot to settle in.

In addition to moving some walls, the design team removed many of the doors, opting for crisp, casement-free portals that “allow the spaces to meander together and let the eye fly right through to the view,” Oldroyd says. Now, tucked-away pocket doors keep the plan open while allowing for the creation of more intimate spaces when desired. In one notable case, Oldroyd did opt to add a wall—albeit a translucent one. Behind the bed in the primary suite, the designers installed illuminated panels of partially fused glass rods. The feature adds glimmer to the room and will mirror the soon-to-be reinstated Bay Lights, the monumental Bay Bridge light sculpture by Leo Villareal that’s about to be visible through the window once again.

Art is also on display within, thanks to a collection Oldroyd curated for the owners. “I selected abstract works by important artists,” the designer says, noting that assembling pieces by people like Ellsworth Kelly, Peter Alexander and Robert Mangold was akin to living in someone else’s dream.

Although the spaces are mostly white, the team kept them from feeling stark by giving them delicate texture and pattern. “The walls are either plastered, lined with a linen or silk wallcovering, or paneled with wood,” Oldroyd explains. “We wanted to add a certain softness, a counterpoint to the strict, powerful lines of the architecture.”

Washing the vertical surfaces with light makes those subtleties come alive. Concrete ceilings made conventional recessed lights impossible, but the team found what Oldroyd describes as “super tiny, super thin” fixtures that fit into the 2-inch cavity allowed in the overhead plane. When switched on, they not only provide illumination, but they also read as a constellation-like array.

The new space may not be home to the under-18 and four-legged set, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t welcoming. “The residence is clean and modern but also very intentional and personal,” Oldroyd says. “Although it’s highly curated, it also has a satin quality to it that makes it feel relaxed. When you are here, you feel invited.”