Starchitect Renzo Piano is returning to San Francisco. The Italian architect, who worked on the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park, has been commissioned to work on a 37-story hotel and condominium project at 555 Howard St.

Renzo plans to design a sustainable building with “a double skin of glass." Automated blinds between the panes would add texture and control heat and glare, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The building will stand near the underway Transbay Transit Center.

While plans are still in an early stage, Renzo wants to make a philosophical statement with the design.

Pacific Eagle and SKS Partners are leading the development. Pacific Eagle SVP Hans Galland (pictured above) says the developer decided on Piano after meeting in Genoa. “We were drawn to his ability for placemaking in an urban context, to bring lightness to what might look like a very challenging site,” Hans tells the San Francisco Chronicle. [SFC]