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Developing
a Strategic Facilities Master Plan for
UC
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Developing a Strategic Facilities Master Plan for UC New engineering studies of campus facilities were conducted last fall, applying information gained from the Loma Prieta, Northridge and Kobe earthquakes. The results were staggering: nearly 27 percent of campus buildings were rated poor or very poor when it came to life safety. These include 57 facilities, approaching 2,000,000 square feet, located on or near the central campus, as well as additional facilities in outlying areas. The cost of repair? More than $700 million. The studies posed other challenges: How does the university ensure that its limited capital resources are invested wisely? How does the campus respect its architectural heritage while providing for future safety? The "Strategic Facilities Master Plan" commencing this fall will guide campus response to these and other issues, including strategies for access and mobility, sustainability, stewardship of historic buildings and resources, developing constructive community input processes, and responding to the university's needs. "This is a unique opportunity for us to look at how we use our facilities and our resources to strengthen the relationship between academic programming, space use, and facilities planning," says Tom Lollini, UC director of physical and environmental planning. "At the same time, we need to view the campus in relationship to the City of Berkeley and adjacent neighborhoods and involve the community in our planning process." It has been 100 years since Phoebe Apperson Hearst commissioned an international competition that produced the first comprehensive architectural plan for the campus. The competition was won by Emile Bénard of France (and carried out by John Galen Howard), whose vision of an "Athens of the West" guided campus development for the first half of this century and produced some of the university's most distinguished architecture, landscapes, and open spaces. Over the years the campus has grown and developed to meet the evolving needs of its academic environment. While major parts of the architectural and landscape legacy of the original plan remain intact, cuts in public funding have left many campus buildings in desperate need of repair and renewal. Development of the master plan's scope and schedule and
selection of a project consultant are underway. At the end
of the year-long planning process, the university hopes to
have a strategic master plan that recognizes the functional
and aesthetic needs of both the campus and the surrounding
community.
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