Berkeley, CA

University of California, Berkeley’s new 90,000 sf, Centralized Dining & Student Services Building consolidating functions once scattered about the campus. The Residential Services component is a four-story office tower housing administration, registration, Cal Rentals, early childhood education, human resources, student services, and residential and family living, “fused” with a new dining commons. “The Crossroads” combines and replaces two existing dining halls and operates as a marche-style servery offering several "platforms" with a variety of menu choices in a self-serve configuration. The dining facility, more public in its massing, occupies a prominent corner of the site while the residential student services tower acts as a taller rectangular backdrop for the dining hall.

Using a sustainable approach, the design maximizes the introduction of daylight and minimizes the use of "applied" decoration. Polished concrete floors, plaster walls, and creative acoustical ceilings establish a simple look that is durable and easily maintained. The architectural sunshades at the Student Services Building are constructed of perforated metal panels placed vertically adjacent to each window with the intention of reducing the heat gain at the interior in the late morning and early afternoon hours. This assists in reducing the mechanical cooling loads for the facility.

The site, the full width of a city block, is central to the residential area of the campus and adjacent to a neighborhood of diverse architectural style and community housing. The building admirably capitalizes upon the sloping topography of the Berkeley Hills and conforms to restricted urban site. This new building expresses the university's desire for a contemporary student services facility in a manner that is both responsive and visually appropriate to the urban neighborhood context.