Award-Winning Birkenstock Foam Roof

Award-Winning Spray Foam Roof Installation: Birkenstock Building

Wedge Roofing received the 2019 Spray Foam Excellence Award for their spray foam roof installation of one of the most iconic roof designs from the 1960s modernist architectural movement, the hyperbolic paraboloid Birkenstock Building in Marin County, California.

The Birkenstock futuristic masterpiece building is renowned worldwide for its principal architectural feature, a sweeping hyperbolic paraboloid curved roof with seven rows of 35 clamshell pyramids extending 30 feet from the main structure at a steep pitch around the entirety of the four-acre roof.

The audacious roof design of the Birkenstock Building reflects the cultural and social changes of the 1960s. Defying norms of conventional warehouses, architect John Bolles and creative director Jan Lubicz-Nyca created the unusual design at the request of McGraw Hill, the original owners of the building, who wanted something new and different.

Constructed by MacDonald, Young, and Nelson Builders from Oakland in one year, the “way out roof design” building, described by the local press, opened as McGraw Hill Publishing’s Western Headquarters in 1966. The San Francisco Examiner applauded the design, writing, “In a well-adjusted world, not all the art is indoors in museums, homes, or other shelters. It is likewise out in the open on the land, for instance, in the form of creative architecture. Everyone who uses it or passes it can share the experience of it as part of a normal day.” ( In 1990, the Marin County founded Birkenstock company purchased the building.)

Award-Winning Birkenstock Spray Foam Roofing Project

Wedge Roofing was one of a handful of qualified contractors invited to submit a proposal and was deservedly proud to be awarded the task of restoring the iconic roof of one of California’s landmark buildings, the 1960s modernism masterpiece Birkenstock Building in Marin County, California. 

The roof restoration project successfully preserved this iconic building through a comprehensive approach, including installing a new spray foam roof, necessary repairs, thorough power washing, and the final application of an acrylic roof coating. Based on the roof’s performance of the past 14 years, the topcoat’s substantial enhancement, and the robust substrate slope, we anticipate exceptional performance lasting well into the mid-2030s. This achievement reflects both durability and efficiency.

Outcome: Like the building we were tasked to restore, we were interested in providing not only an effective solution but also a creative and enduring one. For our roof restoration of the Birkenstock Building, Wedge Roofing received the 2019 Spray Foam Industry Excellence Award.