A total of 326 meters high, two more than the Eiffel Tower in Paris167,000 tons in weight and more than 11,000 glass panels that cover its structure.
From this privileged position, the Salesforce Tower has seen the city of San Francisco since 2018. With foundations the size of a double-decker bus, the building has taken root not only as one of the icons of the skayline of the city, but also as nerve center of the technology company culture led by Marc Benioff.
The tallest office building on the West Coast of the United States, inaugurated in 2018 – construction began in 2013 – has been erected at this time in economic engine of the regionto which numerous technology companies from around the world have reached.
It is difficult not to perceive the hegemony of Salesforce in the city and, especially, during the celebration each year of its star technology event, Dreamforce. The 2024 edition, held in the middle of last September, has not been an exception.
Autonomous artificial intelligence agents, announced this year on a global scale during the technology event in San Francisco, constitute Salesforce’s biggest announcement in recent years.
It was obvious that the extravagance of resources at this year’s Dreamforce was designed to match the impact that their new technological product was going to have around the world. Benioff’s team did not disappoint expectations.
Visiting the technology headquarters during those days is an experience that helps to understand how the impact of the Salesforce Tower transcends the majesty of its walls.
DISRUPTORES-EL ESPAÑOL has been able to see behind closed doors the company culture that is generated within the concrete colossus of Salesforce, specifically from the third to 30th floor, the 45th floor and from 60 to 61 – where it is located Ohana Floor and its magnificent views of the Golden Gate and even on a sunny day you can see the Farallon Islands.
Activity is frenetic in the South of Market neighborhood of San Francisco’s financial district where the Salesforce Tower stands at any time of the year.
The Salesforce Tower has a height of 326 meters, two more than the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
A constant transfer of private vehicles and public transport He makes his way through the crowd of pedestrians rushing to get to their jobs, many of them mobile phones in hand, carrying out day-to-day tasks.
In the big week of technology, the bustle grows in every corner of a metropolis dedicated to the event. In this context, the skyscraper – the tallest in San Francisco, the second in all of California and the twelfth in the entire US– acquires, even more so, the role of royal watchman who sees everything from above.
Visits to the property are constant during Dreamforce and an army of employees help customers, partners and visitors to register – security is maximum – at the entrance and find your way to one of the elevators that will take you to the desired floor.
The visit organized for the media covering Dreamforce this week and in which this editorial team participates soon reaches one of the floors from where the view of the city is impressive. And we are still far from the iconic Ohana Floor, on the 61st floor.
Collaborative culture and sustainability
Salesforce is the city’s first private employer and, in the company culture of Benioff’s company, what happens in its iconic skyscraper has a notable weight.
Collaborative work and sustainability, which maximizes energy efficiency and resource reuse, are present at all times in the Salesforce Tower.
The hybrid work model predominates in the Salesforce Tower and, although a return to the office policy has been implemented after the pandemic, it is not generalized for all types of employees
As for the work model, predominates hybrid modelalthough after the pandemic a return-to-office policy has been put into practice, which, however, has not been consolidated as a generalized guideline.
As Salesforce confirms this wording, there is currently a wide spectrum of work modalitiesfrom employees full remote and others who, due to the characteristics of their functions, have to go to the building every day.
The Salesforce Towers offers a wide range of workspaces to encourage collaboration among employees of the San Francisco-based technology company.
This is confirmed during our visit. Open collaboration spaces divide workstations and provide a variety of seating types; from booth seating to eight-person collaboration tables, all designed to meet the different ways they work Salesforce employees.
Desks and workspace are reserved for teams take advantage of natural light on the glass perimeter, while the meeting rooms are in the center. In addition, there is an area of mindfulness on each floor.
Desks and workspace are designed for teams to take advantage of natural light on the glass perimeter, while meeting rooms are in the center
Being Dreamforce week, the activity differs from any time of the year. The Moscone Center, just three kilometers from the Salesforce Tower, takes up much of the activity and is perceived less influx of employees at their jobssomething that is made up for with an increase in tourist visits to the tower.
The coming and going of people between both locations is constant from the early hours of the day until mid-afternoon, when around 5 p.m. the visits to the summit of the concrete colossus, on the 61st floor, are concluded, depriving visitors of the best view of the city until the next day.
Transparency, the other key concept
The building was designed and built to prioritize its energy efficiency. “We are proud to have prioritized sustainable materials in our design, natural finisheslike real wood, and biophilic elements bring the outside in through a grass-like rug, lots of natural light, and real plants throughout the space,” Salesforce sources indicate.
“Our spaces are highly sustainable with energy-efficient lighting and equipment and centralized trash sorting. We use a lot of glass, a deliberate decision; not only do we value transparency as part of our culture, but we also want attract the greatest amount of natural light possible to all rooms,” they add.
Adjacent to the tower is the Salesforce Transit Center and Park, a state-of-the-art transportation hub set to open with bus service to 11 Bay Area counties and future high-speed rail from San Francisco to Los Angeles.
Some more data show how sustainability has been present in the design of the tower – whose architect is Pelli Clarke Pelli – from the beginning.
It has the largest water recycling system – sewage – in a high-rise commercial building in the US, capable of saving almost 29 million liters of water per year.
It should be remembered that wastewater recycling allows used water to be filtered (rainwater collection on roofs, cooling towers, showers, sinks, toilets and urinals) and reuse it for non-potable use in and around the buildingsuch as in toilets and drip irrigation.
The media delegation confirms the hegemony of Salesforce’s company culture and even has the opportunity to hold a meeting in one of the interior rooms with the Spanish company. Carme Artigas, cohar on the AI Advisory Board of the Office of the Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations on Technology, on the imminent approval those days of the UN conclusions to regulate artificial intelligence.
Views from the 61st floor of the Salesforce Tower in San Francisco.
Artigas had participated in several panels on AI regulation during the Dreamforce 2024 event and the interest in his impressions captured the interest of the media.
The interview extends over time, given the crucial moment that European regulation on artificial intelligence was going through in those days and, by the time the media delegation was preparing to ascend to the emblematic 61st floor to see the 360-degree view of San Franciscoaccess was already closed.
Dreamforce’s agenda doesn’t let up. Oracle Park and Imagine Dragons and Pink concert – at the height of the deployment of Salesforce in a record edition – for Salespark clients and partners awaited us. The visit to the ‘heavens’ of skyline from San Francisco will have to wait. There’s less to go until the 2025 event.
