Merit - Excellence in Planning for an Existing Campus

University of California Berkeley

UC Berkeley Campus Master Plan and LRDP

Jury Comments

““. . . it has so many goals and wonderful planning principles that are clear and straightforward . . . very well managed planning process . . . the level of investigation and resolution of problems is well structured and executed . . .””

Highlights

Site – 1,232 acres; Building – 10.6 million gsf
Development of the Campus Master Plan and the LRDP occurred concurrently.
Day-long thematic workshops brought together diverse audiences around specific topics.
The plan creates 2.5 million net new gsf of academic and campus life space, 4 million gsf of renovated space, and up to 11,730 net new housing beds.
The plan elevates Strawberry Creek as a resilient and ecological people connector.
The Campus Master Plan strengthens the Central Glade as the Campus Park’s iconic, signature open space by restoring the historic east-west viewshed, providing more spaces for academic and campus life programming, and supporting cross-campus accessibility.

Perspectives

UC Berkeley is a mature campus located within an urban setting and is bordered by residential and commercial neighborhoods to the north, west, and south, with steep topography to the east. The university faces complex, significant challenges: a changing climate; the need for more housing; evolving learning environments and campus life activities; emerging mobility trends; seismic needs; and aging facilities. Few sites—other than redevelopment opportunities—are available for development on the Campus Park.

The Campus Master Plan seeks to reconcile past development patterns with present physical constraints and future space needs. The plan relies upon both new construction and renovation to meet academic, campus life, residential, and campus support space needs. Proposed development is generally situated along the edge of the Campus Park, balancing the open space and lower-scale structures associated with the historic ensemble of buildings referred to as the Classical Core. The plan prioritizes academic functions within the Campus Park with housing in close proximity, expands campus life spaces to create a welcoming environment, preserves and enhances the network of open spaces, and pedestrianizes the Campus Park.

The Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) establishes a general framework to guide campus development, while the Campus Master Plan establishes a long-term aspirational vision for the physical campus, proposing principles, goals, specific development strategies, and projects to realize the university’s strategic vision and thoughtfully steward its resources. The consensus-based planning process generates a shared vision for the physical environment that balances visionary aspirations with institutional constraints, and embraces change as an opportunity. The Campus Master Plan and LRDP organize recommendations within 5 principles, 4 planning frameworks, 5 big ideas, and 97 building and public realm projects that address critical needs while also positively strengthening the character of the campus. The plan addresses academic life, housing and campus life, landscape, athletics and recreation, mobility, accessibility, seismic needs, historic resources, signage and wayfinding, sustainability and resilience, fire mitigation, deferred maintenance, and infrastructure.

The plan succeeds in celebrating and reinstating Berkeley’s unique historic, ecological, and cultural assets while providing space to meet contemporary needs and strategic initiatives—all within a highly constrained urban setting with few free-and-clear development sites.

Project Team

Sasaki; Page; Arup; Sherwood Design Engineers; Fehr & Peers; Page & Turnbull; PGAdesign; Forell/Elsesser; Biddison Hier; Design Distill; International Parking Design