660 J

Transforming a Downtown Sacramento Street Corner

Once a dark glazed 1980s structure with no street presence, confused entries and awkward interiors, 660 J Street was reimagined as a light-filled building with an open, welcoming presence in downtown Sacramento.

The new design for the four-story, 125,000-square-foot mixed-use project was designed around the gifts of the site. The street frontages face north and east and can support a high percentage of glazing without the negative solar heat gain. Projected floor plates on the street corner on the third and fourth levels help create a unique building identity, while a south-facing roof on the second level can accommodate a protected private roof terrace with access to the Commons.

The new look features distinctive portals to clearly identify the three building entries for pedestrians and vehicles. The double-height primary lobby opens up to tenants on either side and a new roof terrace was created on the second level, with direct access down to the street-level Golden One Plaza.

The concept wraps two layers of glass skin to the public street frontages that project past the solid form behind. The ground floor facade maximizes clear glazing for new retail frontages, activating the building for pedestrian traffic. The ground floor glazing was unified and inset within the columns providing visual relief and a more human scale. The rear, private façades facing south and west are protected from solar gain through deep recessed ribbon windows with eyebrow louvres.