Skylines are what identify cities on the horizon. Most often they are composed by an assemblage of hi-rises, that pull the eye and are recognizable in the urban fabric of a city as a point of pride. Tall and slender, these structures offer the opportunity to soar, literally “in the clouds,” and when they are designed at their best, they create an emotional presence. Skyscrapers give an urban skyline its character, and in a sense, they form a cultural symbol of a city—of what it aspires to be and where it sees the future.

With this context in mind, Form4 Architecture created the Cloudscape concept with an international technology company in mind. This 47-story commercial tower symbolically references abstract cumulus clouds. This has two origins. The first is a reference to the natural world, to the fog and mists that permeate the city of San Francisco. The second inspiration comes from the cloud-computing technology that is fueling unprecedented global change and in San Francisco has created an impact that rivals the Gold Rush of 1849.

The design for this 1.3-million-square-foot building follows a classic base, middle, and top parti. The base is a study in humane scale. The long western street frontage is bisected by a 40-foot-wide passage through the building and is paired with an iconic lobby taking the form of a 60-foot sphere emerging from the ground and making its way toward the sky. The space between this project and its neighbor is celebrated with a broad paseo that follows a grand arc, connecting a new south mid-block alley to an eastern midblock alley. This network of spaces is activated by incorporating indoor and outdoor retail, pedestrian-oriented service, and dining spaces into the public realm.

Visitors are introduced to a feeling of clouds forming and rising to the sky beginning with the five-story-high glass entrance sphere. It protrudes into the sidewalk and continues into the lobby, where a bisected passage through the building meets a sphere emerging from the ground. The middle section of the tower is an elegant shaft with a distinctly vertical articulation. This accentuates a feeling of ascension, of clouds forming and rising to the sky. The tower’s middle is interrupted by a 60-foot-diameter void with an aspirational viewing deck, which has a razor-thin circular platform extending out.

Additional spheres are designed to seem as if they rise along the 47 stories, pausing in the middle and then cresting on top as an arrangement of 30 variously sized glass spheres. The top eight stories are ethereal, like a vapor. On an urban scale, the emotional intent for the building’s crown is expressed by a mysterious and tumultuous form: part technological wonder, part natural allusion. A harmonic arrangement of these 30 glass spheres forms the basis for this metaphor.

Within this composition of soaring “clouds” are vast sky gardens, public and private spaces, cafés, exhibition rooms, and meeting/work areas. Here, the horizon raises to match visitors’ aspirations to leave a meaningful imprint in a world. Cloudscape offers a spot from where to dream bigger dreams, acquire perspective, organize thoughts, protected from the elements, while in the midst of nature—ready to make a creative mark in the sky.