Emerald Plaza

Emerald Plaza is the fifth tallest building in San Diego, California and is a prominent fixture in San Diego's skyline. Tied with The Pinnacle Marina Tower, it has a height of 450 ft (137 m). Located in the Columbia district of Downtown San Diego, Emerald Plaza is a 30-story building with a clustered hexagonal roof, designed by architects C.W. Kim Architects & Planners.History & DesignEmerald Plaza finished construction in 1990. At the time of its construction, one architectural critic called it "pretentious" and "discordant" with the surrounding buildings, as well as writing the building "... looks like a futuristic experiment, which is a fine thing on the drafting board but may look peculiar along staid Broadway.""Emerald Plaza’s hexagonal design allows for the maximum number of guestrooms and offices with views, as well as minimizes wasted space typical to rectangular buildings. Further more, this design utilizes angled window sills, which reflect ambient sunlight into the building, reducing lighting requirements. The Emerald Plaza was built in 1990 at a cost of $150,000,000. It consists of a steel frame structure with an exterior combination of granite stone panels and reflective glass set in a custom Kynar green aluminum window framing system. The structure itself is balanced on a 9-foot deep concrete block which acts like a floating device, allowing the building ebb and flow, mimicking the movement of water. This technique makes it one of the most stable structures in San Diego."