UC Berkley
UC Berkley Campus and Architecture
I was fortunate enough to meet a friend who was studying Architecture (3rd year) at the UC Berkley campus, which gave me a good reason to visit and even get a personal tour around the architecture department, a good opportunity to compare how American architecture education compares to across the pond.
I think for the campus it self you should not need a reason to visit, just go there. It is a beautiful campus with interesting architecture, design and master planning throughout, with a scale I have not seen before coming from British universities.
Coming from a city campus at Liverpool it was refreshing to see a sprawling campus act as its own miniature city interlaced with sprawling green and public spaces which were being well used.
On the whole the master planing of the campus seemed carefully considered, as walking through the university flowed from one department to another, with vistas being created and terminated at each corner. The design language was mature where each department respects their neighbours but has individual design cues to provide intrigue inviting you in.
My main focus for this trip was in the college of environmental design. The building itself was designed in the late 1950’s by three of the members of the architectural faculty who spent years meeting with faculty committees and the campus architect.
The idea of using concrete reflected the stylistic and economic aesthetics of the time, whilst the architects Vernon DeMars, Donald Olsen, and Joseph Esherick denied they were following any particular style instead trying to create a timeless aesthetic, the buildings design can draw a number of comparisons to the brutalist style. Which can be found throughout the campus in a number of designs.
From the architectural department its elevation offers beautiful views across the bay of San Francisco and campus, with an interesting concept of the higher your education the further up the tower you go.
With a number of landmarks to help navigate across the campus I could always find my way back intuitively no matter how many paths I walked down.
I look forward to go back there one day
