Construction has started for the $4.3 billion UCSF Parnassus Heights Hospital expansion in San Francisco. The official groundbreaking ceremony was held over a month ago, and foundation work is now underway. Once complete, the 15-story medical center will offer hundreds of new patient beds and care units.
The project was approved by the UC Regents in 2022, with demolition starting last year. A significant amount of the financing came from a half-billion-dollar donation from the Helen Diller Foundation, resulting in the future complex being named the UCSF Health Helen Diller Hospital.
New Hospital Parnassus Heights elevation, rendering by Herzog & de Meuron
New Hospital Parnassus Heights pedestrian entrance, rendering by Herzog & de Meuron
Parnassus Heights site work underway, image by Andrew Campbell Nelson
Our last site visit at the start of this year showed that the demolition of the former Langley Porter Psychiatric Hospital was nearly complete as crews prepared the site for construction. The official groundbreaking ceremony was held in late April, with House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, California Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis, and Mayor London Breed in attendance. Foundation work is moving along now, with two construction cranes and two foundation drilling rigs spotted on-site last week. The hospital is expected to open by 2030.
The rising 15-story structure is designed by Herzog & de Meuron, with HDR as the architect of the record. The terracotta-clad tower will come together like an asymmetrical wedding cake, with a fluted-panel base at the bottom, a four-story middle of curtain-wall glass, and a top layer of stepped terraces with seven floors of patient care units. From the top, patients and employees will be able to see the other major project by Herzog & de Meuron, the twisting copper-clad de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park.
New Hospital Parnassus Heights terrace views, rendering by Herzog & de Meuron
New Parnassus Hospital seen from a distance, image courtesy UCSF
Once complete, the 294-foot tall structure will contribute around a million square feet of usable space, adding 324 new patient beds. The complex will increase the overall campus’s capacity up to 682 patient beds, 40 operating rooms, and 70 emergency beds. According to the UCSF press release, the new facilities will “incorporate the latest technologies in diagnostics, robotics and surgical procedures into complex specialty care, including neurosurgery, cardiology, transplant and emergency medicine.”
In a public statement shared by UCSF, Chancellor Sam Hawgood stated, “to remain a leader in the fields of biomedical research, health sciences, education, and care, we are building world-class facilities to match the caliber of the people who will woprk in them.”
New Hospital Parnassus Heights aerial view, rendering by Herzog & de Meuron
Parnassus Heights construction site entry, image by Andrew Campbell Nelson
Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi added in the public release, “This new hospital will be transformative for our city by significantly increasing capacity to meet the health needs of San Franciscans – while creating hundreds of good-paying, union jobs for the Bay Area.”
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$4.3 billion….. that’s a price tag. But a beautiful looking building.
Thanks for the update, but not sure why you published it? It’s like notifying your friends that you are expecting a baby in your ninth mouth? Also I live in the area and there appairs to be a lot more construction going besides the one in the photo.
I just like seeing cool pictures of new buildings! I don’t mind the “update” at all
For ucsf retiree I appreciate the news
The pile driving and dump trucks are disrupting the entire neighborhood. Massive project should have been built at Mission Bay.
No. And I hope more apartment buildings are built in your neighborhood!
It’s the perfect place for tall buildings.
“The pile driving and dump trucks are disrupting the entire neighborhood. ”
NIMBYs will say anything, no matter how embarrassing.
Aw bro is so sad, he’s afraid of his precious Haight Ashbury housing value! Poor guy what a tough life. Nothing has ever disrupted the entire Haight neighborhood, never, not ever. 😒
Didn’t salesforce cost around 1 billion? how in the f do they manage to spend 4.3 billion on this?
Keeping a human being with medical issues alive is a lot more complex than some desks and lights.