A proposed dormitory block headed to Downtown Berkeley has a few people scratching their heads.
The beguiling, 254-bed student housing project, known as the Enclave and designed by Kirk E. Peterson & Associates, will bring 55 dormitory units to a site located just across from Berkeley's People's Park.
If you look only at the top three or four floors of the peculiar seven-story complex, it might be hard to notice anything out-of-hand. A series of Mission Revival-inspired faux bell towers, for example, punctuate the project's upper levels, where handsome red tile roof and blue-green tile accents round out an otherwise stucco-and-brick apartment tower.
The building's lower levels, however, are something else entirely. Renderings for the project depict the five-over-two-style podium building's three lower levels wrapped in what the project developers describe as "a unique rock façade" containing rounded storefront windows, large wooden doors, wrought iron accents along the ground floor, with an expressive arrangement of divided light windows, Juliet balconies, and sliding glass doors higher up.
The time truly are a-changin’ in Berkeley, to use a too-predictable cliche — the lot sprouting what I hereby dub #Hobbitetecture was vacated by a fire in the 1980s pic.twitter.com/Lb1bYoUrqC
— John King (@JohnKingSFChron) August 7, 2019
The building's sculpted base caught San Francisco Chronicle urban design critic John King by surprise, who remarked that times "truly are a-changin’ in Berkeley, to use a too-predictable cliche," in a recent tweet highlighting the project.
Ultimately, the development will bring 88,000 square feet of residential spaces and 11,000 square feet of retail to the site. LCA Architects is the project’s Architect of Record. Construction on the project is well underway, with framing for the higher levels of the project nearly finished ahead of an estimated July 2020 completion date.
4 Comments
Really unexpected design, but makes perfect sense in terms of LA and Berkley. Mission Revival is already popular in the area with large Mexican influence while larger buildings make designed parking podiums the norm, though this podium was clearly excavated from the La Brea tar pits and reinterpreted by a theme park designer. Old and new California, the Rainforest Cafe of student housing.
I'm a little baffled; this building was designed by Kirk Peterson & Associates Architects. This rendering is somewhat revised but the design's been kicking around for quite a while. Yes, I see it on LCA's site (sticking out like a sore thumb from their other work), but are they just the architect of record or what? It's pretty over the top even for Peterson, but it's of a piece with his other, generally traditionalist + Mission Revival-revival work. http://www.kpaarch.com/el-jard...
Thank you, the story has been corrected.
The original project team said the building was inspired by Italian hill towns, Tibetan forts and the rock-cut architecture of Petra in Jordan. The design calls for “naturalistic” entrances made of rock, or concrete that looks like rock.
https://www.berkeleyside.com/2...
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