Every year, 25 million litres of water are saved: this means a decrease of 76% in global usage. That’s the promise the Salesforce Tower (a new skyscraper in San Francisco) is living up to.

In California, technology companies compete with each other when building their new offices. They let their imagination run wild and have very ambitious goals. Close to the Apple Park, the Googleplex and the future Facebook City Zee Town, the Salesforce Tower was recently inaugurated. It’s a glass tower with a height of 326 meters, designed by the Argentinian architect Cesar Pelli. Since January, the structure offers a breath-taking view of the San Francisco Bay. It should particularly lead to an enhanced appreciation of South of Market Street (SoMa), a former industrial area that should become the global epicentre of the technology industry. At the expense of Silicon Valley.

Salesforce is the fourth largest software producer in the world (after Microsoft, Oracle and SAP). In 2017, they got attention for a remarkable gesture of CEO Marc Benioff: in order to bridge the pay gap, the big boss divided 6 million dollars between his female employees. It’s a matter of restoring the social equilibrium! A year later, the company is no longer satisfied looking over the rooftops of the city. They also wanted their new building to be the most environmentally responsible building in San Fran. The secret? An underground system (made up of two stories) for recycling waste water. This way, dirty water from toilets, garbage disposals and dishwashers can be reused. Rain water and water from rooftops can be purified.

Inspired by nature

‘All the clean water we use, is recycled,’ says Patrick Flynn, director of sustainability at Salesforce. ‘The system actually works just like nature does. We use the same filtration system as groundwater, even though we’ve modified the principle to fit a commercial complex.’ According to the Salesforce team, more than 7 million gallons of fresh water can be saved each year, which means a decrease of 76% in global water usage. A masterpiece that will hopefully be emulated soon!

Tags: César Pelli, Salesforce Tower, San Francisco, waste water, water recycling