Historically, San Francisco’s Market Street has been likened to Fifth Avenue and other great promenades worldwide. However, its renowned centerpiece, the Emporium department store built in 1896, spent recent decades vacant and in disrepair. Today, the site is home to Westfield San Francisco Centre, a 1.5 million-SF development and one of the most significant urban mixed-use projects in the United States. RTKL, an affiliate of ARCADIS, served as Design Architect for the innovative project, which conjoins an existing, 500,000-SF retail center with a new building that preserves the Emporium’s signature dome and façade.

The Centre houses over 200 exclusive retail tenants; the first class-A office space to come online in the city in 2006; a cinema; fine restaurants and a gourmet market; and a heavily trafficked BART rail station. In its configuration, the Centre forms a nexus with nearby fashion and cultural districts. The Market Street entry showcases the Emporium’s restored Beaux-Arts façade. The flagship Bloomingdale’s along Mission Street features a jewel-box design that acknowledges that street’s modern character. Inside, the Emporium’s glass dome was preserved and raised by 54 feet to provide a crucial sense of scale while improving retail circulation. The dome highlights the grand atrium at the center of the diagram, which also includes dynamic retail districts and interior "rooms" that preserve the pedestrian scale and complement the Centre’s eight engaging levels.