UC Berkeley Residence Halls Units 1 and 2 Infill Student Housing

This $92-million project features four new residential structures totaling 884 new beds for the UC Berkeley campus. Structures are eight stories tall. Scope included the demolition of existing dining facility and reconstruction of the existing basement.

The new housing units are located just 20 ft. away from other nine-story campus residences. The new housing design incorporated natural lighting, additional insulation, and natural cooling systems in each room. Three of the buildings are dormitories, and the other is apartment style. Bicycle accommodations have replaced parking spaces, and segregated material conveyance chutes on each floor provide easy access to recycling. The project also included renovating a dining hall to a student-services building and a new plaza.

Crews incorporated environmentally sound practices during construction, such as using fly ash, which reduces carbon dioxide emissions during the creation of concrete, and recycling construction debris off-site. Although the project, designed by EHDD Architecture was not originally built to meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification guidelines, the university expects the project will earn a LEED silver rating.

The 300,000-sq.-ft. infill housing project was built in a busy urban neighborhood with a large student population. A construction safety program included signs for reduced speed limits, a radar/speed monitoring device, alternate pedestrian routes, no jaywalking signs, and extensive communication with students.

Because there was such limited delivery space and it was important not to impede traffic, the crew created a training video on traffic flagging. "We had 26,000 yds. of concrete delivered on the project, and we coordinated schedules down to the hour," said Bob Rycerski, one of two Rudolph and Sletten superintendents on the job.

Rudolph and Sletten designed a unique removable fence panel system and initiated a fence-monitoring policy for subcontractors. The leading edges of all panels were wrapped in reflective tape for night visibility. The fencing was so popular with the city that it was adopted as a city standard for future contractors.

"I think one of the challenges we undertook on this was to give a private-sector performance to a public entity, and I think we were successful to that end," said Kevin Fettig, R&S project manager. "Rudolph and Sletten, the architect, and the client were able to accomplish that by working together. We took into account the nearby residences and minimized the impact of our presence into their world."

Judges' Comments:

"The builders and architects had to overcome some extreme obstacles in a busy urban setting to create a unique set of buildings."

Project Team:

Owner: UC Berkeley
Architect: EHDD Architecture
Construction manager, general contractor: Rudolph and Sletten
Engineering team:
Rutherford & Chekene (structural)
Gayner Engineers (MEP)
Key subcontractors:
Rosendin Electric Inc.
Cleveland Wrecking Co. (demolition)
Conco Cement Co. (CIP structure)
Architectural Aluminum & Glass (window walls and metal skin)
Anning-Johnson (wall framing and plaster skin)

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