Introducing The Complex in San Francisco

When they would enter the reinvented San Francisco Gallery - dubbed The Complex, The Future Perfect’s David Alhadeff wanted guests to experience a sense of imminent discovery. With its interconnected rooms and residential, yet innovative tone, the location strikes an entirely new note.

Five years after the gallery’s debut in the city’s Pacific Heights neighborhood, The Future Perfect has undergone an extensive reinvention, with additional rooms and a transformed backyard patio. The original gallery has been heightened with the addition of two floors of an adjacent building and a fully realized outdoor experience.

Like its brethren - the Los Angeles’ Casa Perfect - The Complex eschews the traditional gallery format with the addition of an apartment space. With minimal architectural intervention, the apartment balances a sense of immersion with typical NoCal approachability due to its interconnected rooms and innovative space layouts.

When conceiving the newly developed space, Alhadeff played with a sense of fantasy and thought about the upscale almost fantastical nature of the Pacific Heights area. What resulted was a rambling, home-like layout that feels like stepping into a fictional Northern California Mansion. This vision is evinced particularly in what’s known as The Pinch Apartment, which features the work of the namesake London-based design studio. Exemplifying the studio’s brand of simplicity with a twist, pieces include a sofa upholstered in Pierre Frey’s whimsical Le Couple fabric alongside a lacquered drinks cabinet and magnificent armoire. The effect seems suitable for a modern day magnate with an unerring eye.

Like all of The Future Perfect galleries, the frisson is all in the mix - with gallery favorites accompanying new discoveries, such as Japanese artist Ryosuke Yazaki whose exquisite hand-carved sculptures were on show earlier this year. And this being California, many of our favorite local artists and craftspeople feature prominently, including Adam Pogue for Commune and Charles de Lisle.

Photography by Jose Manuel Alorda.