Inside a nondescript trailer parked at 1400 Sixth Street, a team is plotting the next steps to complete the first 10 projects at the UCSF Mission Bay campus.

On a recent sunny day, Facilities Management project managers, architects and staff as well as others from Campus Planning and Information Technology Services and contracts convened around a conference table to hear status reports on the construction of the first two research buildings, contracting strategies and the development of the underground utilities. It is not an exaggeration to say that this group — referred to as the Project Delivery Group or PDG — is turning drawing board dreams into reality.

Seated in the center of the table with his sleeves rolled up, Steve Wiesenthal, associate vice chancellor of Facilities Management, casually yet confidently leads the two-hour-long meeting scheduled monthly to keep tabs on the ambitious undertaking.

The first 10 projects -- totalling $644 million -- make up the first phase. The cost and their target occupancy dates are:

Genentech Hall: $223 million/January 2003
Phase one utilities and infrastructure (electrical, gas, water, sewer, telecommunication): $22.8 million/July 2003
Developmental biology and genetics research building: $89.4 million/fall 2003
Parking structure: $16 million/September 2004
Interim parking: $3.5 million
Site coordination: $2.5 million
Campus Community Center: $65.5 million/September 2004
Phase-one landscape: $11.8 million/October 2004
Institute for Quantitative Biomedical Research (QB3): $100 million/December 2004.
Housing: $109.7 million/fall 2005

Taking setbacks in stride

At the recent meeting of the PDG, the mood is cheerful and relaxed even though many hurdles remain. At the time, Lisa Henderson, project manager for the landscaping of the 3.2-acre campus green area known as the Koret Quad, was negotiating the first round of change orders and construction of the housing complex had fallen behind schedule due to initial concerns of the community and others about its height. As a result, architects went back to the drawing board. But this group tends to take such temporary setbacks in stride.

With the top floors of Genentech Hall now complete, the steel structure of the Genetics, Development and Behavioral Sciences building fully erected, and the pilings for the the campus community center and QB3 now in place, the pace of activity and intensity of excitement has accelerated.

"Overall, I think the project has gone extremely well," says Russ Akre, project manager for Genentech Hall, where 630 men and women worked at the peak of construction.

Akre, who has 15 years of experience at UCSF, is pleased to report that the original target date he set for completion three years ago — October 2002 — held true.

Opportunity of a lifetime

Converting post-industrial parcels of land into the nation's newest hub for biomedical research and teaching is understandably a Herculean task, but for Wiesenthal and others it's part of the job. "It can be overwhelming, but it's so incredibly exciting and I get tremendous support from Steve Barclay and the Chancellor and I have a great team working on Mission Bay."

For Wiesenthal, it is "an opportunity of a lifetime," one he first envisioned for himself at the age of five when he built little "cities" in his family room with plywood and other materials he found around the house. "I was one of those obnoxious kids who knew what they wanted to do very early in life," he said. "I always wanted to be an architect and I love it."

One of the main reasons why Wiesenthal, 42, uprooted his wife and two children from Philadelphia to move to San Francisco was to be at the helm of UCSF Facilities Management at the birth of the Mission Bay campus. When he arrived in July 2000, crews were completing the foundation work on Genentech Hall.

"We want to build a campus that sets the standard," Wiesenthal said. "This new campus will reflect the quality of the University and the quality of the research and teaching that goes on here."

For Akre, whose grandfather was a carpenter, the call to the art of architecture came later in life. He was in college looking over the list of majors and didn't look too far before deciding to study architecture, he says. After supervising several successful renovation projects on the Parnassus Heights campus, Akre was chosen to oversee construction of the first research building at Mission Bay.

"It's been a real thrill to see this building come out of the ground and get finished," Akre said of the past four years. "Trust me, there are daily frustrations and aggravations, but building things is fun." Understandably, Akre takes a lot of pride in the product: "This is an outstanding building, from the quality of the design to the use of materials. It is built to last 80 years."

And because research will evolve over the next few decades, the building's laboratories are built in modules that can be transformed over time. With early and regular input from the faculty, who wanted the design to reflect the model for interaction and inner connectivity established in the Health Sciences towers, Genentech Hall evolved as a truly collaborative effort.

"We worked very hard to try to make sure we have a building that will stand the test of time," Akre said.

Indeed, faculty serving on the Mission Bay IT Task Force requested that Genentech Hall be equipped with its state-of-the-art fiber optic network and have more than enough capacity to serve them well into the future.

Source: Lisa Cisneros

Last updated January 28, 2005

Facilities Management

Steve Wiesenthal, associate vice chancellor for Facilities Management, talks with project managers at a June 2002 meeting of the Project Delivery Group, which includes Olivier Pieron, center, and Dan O'Shea, of Turner Construction Co. Photo by Lisa Cisneros.

Facilities Management

Russ Akre, Facilities Management project manager for Genentech Hall, stands in front of the amphitheater which is under construction. Photo by Lisa Cisneros.