Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture

San Francisco, CA

Located on the historic waterfront of San Francisco, Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture (FMCAC)—pioneer in the reuse of military bases—hosts an ever-evolving rotation of artistic programming for over 1.2 million annual visitors that includes art installations, theater and dance performances,  and educational and cultural classes. Pier 3 is an existing historic shed structure constructed in 1935 over a concrete substructure erected in 1909 over wooden piles driven into the bay shore. It is a highly valued arts space, community hub, historic landmark, and economic engine. The site hosts nearly two dozen nonprofit and arts organizations as permanent residents. for its efforts preserving the historic US Army San Francisco Port of Embarkation. 

After completing a full renovation of Pier 2 in 2017, a 2020 engineering evaluation indicated that the Pier 3 had exceeded its intended design life. In 2022, FMCAC began to plan and design a seismic retrofit of the Pier 3 substructure with an eye to complete rehabilitation and repair by FMCAC’s 50th anniversary in 2027. 

The values underpinning FCI’s ongoing support for Pier 3 planning and resiliency—resulted in a 2024 Scoping Report and 2025 Concept Design—are deeply embedded in the ethos of Fort Mason Center, its operations, capital program, and education activities. A FCI 2025 Implementation grant will test a select series of FMCAC’s historic windows for air leakage/infiltration, replace broken panes, apply sealing measures, and perform post-testing to analyze the impact on energy and provide feedback for fine-tuning to maximize energy efficiency. 

Milestones

• Reduce air leakage of windows and the Energy Use Intensity (EUI) by 15–19 percent

• Develop and verify methodologies and specifications for repair, replacement, and sealing