San Francisco’s Skyline, Now Inexorably Transformed by Tech
The skyscraper came late to this city, a shipping and manufacturing hub for much of its existence. The wealthy roosted on the hills, and the masses toiled on the flats and the docks. Everyone lived close to the ground in a setting renowned for its natural beauty.
Now the things being shipped are virtual, and vast amounts of office space are needed to design, build and market them. Salesforce, a company that did not exist 20 years ago, took up residence Jan. 8 in the new Salesforce Tower, which at 1,070 feet is the tallest office building west of the Mississippi.
這棟摩天大樓對舊金山而言來得晚了。這座城市在歷史上多數時候是航運和製造業中心，以美麗的自然景色聞名，富人在山上歇息，普羅大眾在平地和碼頭上辛勤勞動，每個人都在離地面很近的地方生活。
如今，運輸的商品都是虛擬的，需要極大量的辦公空間來設計、打造並銷售這些商品。1月8日，一家20年前還不存在的公司Salesforce搬進全新的Salesforce大樓，樓高1070英尺（約326公尺），是密西西比河以西最高的辦公大樓。
本月初啟用的Salesforce大樓（右）改變舊金山的天際線。 （美聯社）
本月初啟用的Salesforce大樓（右）改變舊金山的天際線。 （美聯社）
In Silicon Valley, the office parks blend into the landscape. They might have made their workers exceedingly rich, they might have changed the world — whether for better or worse is currently up for debate — but there is nothing about them that says: We are a big deal.
Skyscrapers tell a different story. They are the pyramids of our civilization, permanent monuments of our existence. They show who is in charge and what they think about themselves. Salesforce Tower broke a San Francisco height record that had stood for nearly half a century.
在矽谷，辦公園區與自然風光融為一體。園區或許讓員工變得極其富有，也或許讓世界改變了—變好還是變壞目前尚無定論—不過這些園區完全無法傳達「我們很了不起」的訊息。
摩天大樓不同，是文明的金字塔，也是標誌我們存在的不朽紀念碑。它們展現了誰是掌權者及掌權者如何看待自己。Salesforce大樓打破舊金山維持了近半世紀的建築物高度紀錄。
“A ceiling has been breached,” said Alison Isenberg, a professor of urban history at Princeton University. “Now the discussion becomes is this just a building that is taller than the ones we already had, or does it raise new questions about the nature of the city?”
Salesforce Tower is visible from just about everywhere. Go to the farthest edges of the city, and its 61 stories of tapered steel and glass stick up like a forceful thumb. On the drive north from the airport, the tower is the one building discernible over Potrero Hill. From the distant North Bay, it is the first thing you notice as San Francisco sheds its customary morning fog. The building catches the morning sun, dazzling the way none of its lesser neighbors do.
普林斯頓大學城市史教授艾莉森．艾森伯格說：「最高紀錄打破了，現在討論的主題變成，它只是一棟比已有建築物都要高的大樓嗎？或者它還讓我們重新思考這座城市的本質？」
無論在這座城市的哪個角落，你都能看到Salesforce大樓。走到最遠處的城市邊緣，你會發現這座61層高的鋼鐵和玻璃錐形大樓聳然而立，像個強有力的大拇指。從機場開車向北行駛，這棟大樓是波特雷羅山那一邊唯一可見的建築。從遙遠的北灣眺望，當經常籠罩舊金山的晨霧散開時，Salesforce大樓會是你看到的第一棟建築，它映著晨光，閃耀著附近較矮建物沒有的光芒。
The tower is not beautiful, but is impossible to ignore. The top floors are set off from the rest, and the crown is flat rather than a spire. It looks as if a rocket were stowed up there, an escape vehicle for the tech overlords when the city is consumed by disaster.
It will have to be a big rocket, because there are so many overlords. While few were looking, tech ate San Francisco, a development encouraged by Mayor Ed Lee, who unexpectedly died last month. There are now 79,129 high-tech jobs in the city, about triple the number a decade ago, according to a new research report from the real estate firm CBRE.
這座大樓不算漂亮，但很難忽視。它最高幾層樓的設計有別於其他樓層，而且頂部是平頂而非尖頂，整體看來就像一枚火箭立在那兒，像是舊金山毀於災難時為科技業霸主準備的逃生艙。
這還得是個很大的火箭，因為這裡的科技霸主還真多。在幾乎沒人注意的時候，科技業吞噬了舊金山，去年12月驟逝的市長李孟賢則對此持鼓勵態度。房地產公司「世邦魏理仕」全新研究報告顯示，目前舊金山共有79129個高科技業職位，是十年前的三倍。
文／David Streitfeld 譯／李京倫
說文解字看新聞
本文談的是科技公司進駐美國西部最高辦公大樓，顯示科技業在舊金山的主導地位。密西西比河（Mississippi River）是北美最大水系和最長的河流，一般以這條河作為美國東西部的分界線。
摩天大樓（skyscraper）一詞首見1880年代美國第一批摩天樓興建時。19世紀後半葉，美國都市商業日益發達，對辦公空間需求增大，摩天樓便應運而生。世界第一棟摩天樓是1885年建成的美國芝加哥家庭保險大樓，樓高10層，是第一棟使用鋼梁（steel-girder）的建築物。人類能興建摩天樓，主要是因為幾項技術同時發展到位：量產鋼材、發明安全快速的電梯、測量並分析結構荷重與應力（structural loads and stresses）。
Salesforce大樓很重要的意義是，它是美國以科技公司為「主要租客」（anchor tenant）的最高樓。主要租客是第一個承租百貨商場或大樓空間的公司，通常也是最大的公司，名聲響亮，能吸引其他租客和顧客。
過去一百年來，舊金山市中心的摩天樓主要是銀行、保險和航空公司的天下。
