For such an iconic building, the Transamerica Pyramid has historically been oddly isolated from the city it represents.

For half a century, the building’s redwood-planted pocket park was the only part of the behemoth open to the public—and even then, it was really only those who worked nearby that actually knew the space existed.

That all changes this week, when the Pyramid and its Redwood Park debut as a reimagined center for arts, culture, and community gathering. On its 50th birthday, the Pyramid is finally embracing the city that adores it.

The Transamerica’s new lease on life comes courtesy of a billion-dollar investment by luxury real estate developer SHVO and global architecture firm Foster + Partners, who reawakened its original design by William Pereira.

“A big part of the renovation was modernizing it, stripping it out, and giving it back to the public,” says Mason Harrison, spokesperson for the Pyramid. “It’s the ultimate realization of Pereira’s dream.”

Whereas once the Pyramid’s lobby was a no-nonsense thoroughfare for tenants of its 48 stories of office space, the building’s ground floor is now open and light-filled, flanked by a coffee bar on one side, a flower and gift shop on the other, and seating in rounded shapes that soften the Pyramid’s precise geometry. Just outside the floor-to-ceiling windows wrapping the lobby, cafe tables invite the public to take a seat and soak up the view.

The flower and gift shop in the Transamerica Pyramid's revamped, public-welcoming lobby.(David Lipman)

Under the trees in the adjacent Transamerica Redwood Park, stags, rhinoceri, sheep and almost two dozen other fantastical fauna by French artists Claude and François-Xavier Lalanne (Les Lalanne) prowl. Their exhibition is the first public installation of Pyramid Arts, a program that will rotate twice a year in the park and on the second floor of Transamerica Building 2. That space launches with “The Vertical City,” an exhibition of Pritzker Prize Laureate Lord Norman Foster’s architectural achievements, on September 15th.

“Our vision for Pyramid Arts is to celebrate luminaries and iconoclasts who, like the Pyramid, are ahead of their time,” says SHVO chairman and CEO Michael Shvo. “I can’t imagine a better pair of artists to inaugurate the next chapter of this remastered city block, or a more celebrated builder of worlds to help bring their vision to life."

In addition to its public art, the Redwood Park is being activated as a space for dining, drinking, and events. Celebrated chef and James Beard finalist Bradley Kilgore is at the helm of all of the Transamerica Pyramid Center’s dining concepts coming soon, including Cafe Sebastian, an all-day indoor-outdoor affair on the pedestrian-only Mark Twain Alley.

The restaurant will serve lighter fare, grab-and-go eats, and half bottles of wine for the discerning lunchtime tippler, while a scoop shop next door will dole out ices and gelatos. A bar at the edge of the park’s new lawn will lend Euro-style biergarten vibes, while a higher-end, umami-forward restaurant and HiFi lounge (based on Kilgore’s successful Italian-Japanese pop-up Ama).

A rendering of the Pyramid Lawn at night.(David Lipman)

Beginning with the Pyramid of Light and Sound, an opening night party with performances by Kronos Quartet, Michael Marshall, and Thievery Corporation on September 12th, a range of events will pop up regularly inside the park. Opening night will also bring the lighting of the spire—which will become an ongoing, color-changing feature of the building’s summit—and a laser show on the Pyramid’s park-facing facade.

The next big to-do, TED’s global AI conference in October, will gather 60 speakers for TED Talks, panels, workshops, live demonstrations, and interactive exhibits around the nucleus of the park.

If you’re privileged enough to work in the building or know someone who does (the Pyramid is one of the few office buildings downtown that’s actually maintained majority occupancy post-Covid), there are a slew of other new amenities: the slick 26th floor gym and spa; the 27th floor Sky Lounge, a designer working space with a perfectly framed view of Coit Tower; and an exclusive Kilgore-led bar on the 48th floor.

The 27th floor Sky Lounge perfectly frames Coit Tower in its picture windows.(David Lipman)

But unlike its first 50 years, when the only way to experience the Transamerica Pyramid was through an inside connection, the revamped Center and Redwood Park is now an inclusive space to welcome both locals and visitors to one of the city’s most recognizable symbols.

“Pereira was supposed to build the Pyramid in New York but it was deemed too avant garde,” says Harrison. Ironically, “the building they constructed instead is now being torn down while, in San Francisco, the Pyramid is celebrating its next 50 years.”

Here’s to the half century to come.

// The Transamerica Pyramid Center officially reopens on September 12; transamericapyramid.com