700 Santana Row Curves and shimmers: rethinking spec offices

Client Federal Realty Investment Trust
Location San Jose, CA
Size Retail: 28,000 sq ft
Office: 290,000 sq ft
Garage: 450,000 sq ft / 1,300 stalls
Completion 2019
Program Offices, retail, parking
Sustainability LEED Certified
Delivery Negotiated GMP
Photographer Matthew Millman

San Jose’s Santana Row, celebrated for its walkable, human-scale streetscape and vibrant mix of shopping, entertainment, and dining, has captured the attention of Silicon Valley’s workforce. People want a place that feels engaging, with world-class amenities close at hand. With 290,000 square feet of Class A office space and 28,000 square feet of retail housed in an elegant, modern design, 700 Santana Row evolves the formerly referential character of the district while reimagining it as a holistic neighborhood for live, work, and play.

Activating the public realm

700 Santana Row features a sweeping facade that captures the energy of nearby shopping arcades and forms a gracious public plaza at the terminus of Santana Row’s main axis. This plaza provides a lively, informal gathering space that serves as a venue for community programming, enriching the neighborhood’s amenity offerings. A breezeway runs through the ground floor, connecting the public plaza with the office lobby and a parking structure.

Dynamic facades and light-filled interiors

The building’s curved facades are expressed as a shimmering metal “screen,” with angled elements that catch sunlight, producing a dynamic visual effect. A gentle curve in the building’s upper portion bends southeast, creating a sense of elegant tension, as if the surfaces are subtly being pulled in opposite directions. The diaphanous curtainwall design softens the eight-story structure and floods the loft-like interiors with natural light.

Campus-like amenities for a Silicon Valley workforce

Targeting mid-sized companies seeking campus-like amenities, 700 Santana Row incorporates ground-floor retail and a spacious, planted terrace on the sixth floor, complete with a trellis as a dedicated amenity for office tenants. Like its neighbor 500 Santana Row (also designed by WRNS), 700 Santana Row was fully leased to a major technology firm before construction was completed.

Rethinking spec offices

**Distinctive facades**
Designed to manage solar exposure while responding to context

**Shimmering screen**
A diaphanous, curved curtainwall design

**Gathering spaces**
Stepped back massing to create an urban plaza

**Ground Floor**
A lively, informal space for community programming

**Upper Terrace**
A dedicated amenity for office tenants

Environmental sustainability

LEED Silver certified, 700 Santana Row integrates sustainable features such as cool roofs, water-efficient landscaping, an eco-conscious irrigation system, and the use of recycled materials, contributing to a greener, more resilient built environment.