dis[PLACE]ment architecture

Urban Infill

This summer the American Institute of Architects California Council (AIACC) announced the 2006 recipients of its annual design awards program. Five honor awards were given to California architects, for projects at home and as far flung as Pennsylvania and London.

One of the local projects is a residence hall complex for the University of California, Berkeley, designed by Esherick, Homsey, Dodge, & Davis (EHDD) Architecture.

One block from the Berkeley campus, this infill student housing project lies in a transitional zone between the bustling campus and a quieter residential neighborhood with single-family houses and low-density apartment buildings. In the early 1960s, the university had built eight dormitory towers, organized in a pinwheel configuration facing away from the street, without connections to the street life of the community, creating unused outdoor space.

EHDD's new buildings remedy this situation and solve several other problems. The new housing faces the street, giving students a greater presence in the community. The stepped-height facades reduce the disparity of scale between the dormitory towers and the nearby houses. The neighborhood — always desperate for more student housing — has increased in density.

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I found this interesting as an example of current infill design. The rest of the article can be read here: http://www.architectureweek.com/2006/0927/news_3-1.html

posted by clintor @ 8:25 PM