By Ryan Jang and Cecily Ng��

The reimagined Creekside Center at UC Berkeley��represents��a fundamental shift in how accessibility, sustainability, and historic preservation can coexist within the academic built environment. Located in the campus’ classical core, the project transformed the former��Dwinelle��Hall Annex — a deteriorating, barrier-laden structure — into an inclusive, high-performance home for the university’s Disabled Students’ Program (DSP). Rather than treating accessibility as a compliance exercise, the design team approached the renovation as an opportunity to��demonstrate��how universal design can enhance comfort, resilience, and agency for all building users.����

Shaped by an extensive programming process that included feedback from students, staff, and campus stakeholders, the project is rooted in DSP’s belief that “an accessible environment universally benefits everyone.”��More than��4,000 students visit the��building regularly to receive services such as proctoring, alternative��media��and interpreting.����

A Historic Building with Modern Barriers��

The two-story building is nestled in the mature trees north of Strawberry Creek.��Originally��designed��by John Galen Howard in 1920��in the First Bay Tradition,��there were��additions in 1924 by Howard and 1949 by Michael Goodman.��When��the��project began in 2021,��many features attributing��the building��to the First Bay Tradition��were present��but��in a state of disrepair. A non-code compliant ramp linked three of the lower elevations while the upper floors were disconnected��and��only��reachable��by��stairs.��The exterior suffered from water intrusion, rot, and pest damage.��The existing��steam��heating system was served by��the campus central plant��in a highly inefficient manner. There was no mechanical ventilation or air filtration system.����

Restoring Character While Improving Performance��

The building’s exterior was carefully rehabilitated, with its historic character��retained��and repaired, when possible. New��cladding��replicates��the original redwood board and batten siding. The��low-pitched gabled roof eaves and fascias��were restored. The��spearmint-colored��windows with divided��lites��were replaced with high performance windows of��the same size��and appearance. “High performance”��could��not just address environmental qualities.��Window models��were��also��evaluated for��accessibility��features��such as operating force and the height of locking and lifting mechanisms.����

Other envelope-tightening measures included adding weather barriers and insulation to the exterior walls,��roof��and floors. The project installed all-electric mechanical systems.��Through this��deep-energy��retrofit,��actual energy��use��in the six months of full occupancy has been 84% below baseline. The embodied carbon intensity is 63% lower than the median new-construction educational building.��

A Ramp as the Building’s Circulation Spine��

The one major exterior addition is a new ramp that connects the five existing floor elevations. As the��single��circulation��spine, the ramp��facilitates��equitable��access throughout the building. Large expanses of glazing along the ramp��allows��views clear across the building from the campus to the creek. Exposed structural wood posts��supporting the ramp��create a unifying cadence and a place for handrail brackets. By expressing the ramp slope on the exterior with��a��contemporary��fiber cement panel façade, the ramp��becomes��a beacon that communicates universal access.��

Universal Design Beyond Code Requirements��

Universal Design strategies exceed code��accessibility��requirements and include color and form-based wayfinding and biophilia rich interiors.��The restored��existing��wood��roof trusses were exposed��as an interior finish material��and��influenced the��remainder��of the interior material palette. Wood is used in high touch places such as windows, handrails, and wall end caps. The wood provided textural and color contrast, both of which help make spaces more accessible, without overwhelming the senses.����

Preserving the existing floor to floor height significantly limited the space for mechanical equipment. By selectively lowering the ceiling at��the��threshold��between��circulation��and��program spaces, the team created room for the equipment and provided an area for an individual to decompress before deciding how to engage with the space ahead.��The floor material��and wall��color differ from the adjacent spaces and are only used��in��the thresholds. The color, texture, and difference in light quality��in the threshold spaces signifies��to someone with low vision they were about to enter a new type of space.��

Designing for Choice, Agency, and Comfort��

The thresholds��offer��individual��choice,��a theme��also��integrated��elsewhere. Each��office��has an independently controlled��thermostat,��and��every��regularly occupied space has at��least one operable window��to��provide individual��choice in the quality and temperature of airflow. Solar shades and dimmer switches for all overhead lights��allow occupants to control the quality of light.��Individualized controls are often missing from today’s workspaces, but these features��are��easy to integrate and go a long way to make occupants feel welcome.����

To guide the project beyond minimum code accessibility, the team devised a list of��eight��“Impact Areas” that connect access needs to design features rather than assigning features to specific disabilities. The Impact Areas included��needs��such as community building and privacy, cognitive access, and sensory zoning.��The Impact Areas��offered��a framework to address “dueling disabilities,” where��people have drastically different environmental needs,��and��ultimately��helped��the team��provide agency and enhance feelings of safety and security��in the building.��Creekside Center provides a much-needed home for a community that has��historically marginalized from the design of the built environment.��

Ryan Jang,��AIA, LEED AP, is a Principal and Cecily Ng, AIA, is an Associate��with��Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects.��

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SAN FRANCISCO—Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects and Truebeck Construction are hard at work on the new California Street Campus for San Francisco University High School (SFUHS), which will be the school’s first ground-up construction. The new facility will allow the school itself to expand its existing four-building campus in this city where real estate is at such a premium.

The new building will replace an L-shaped World War II-era strip mall with its own parking, repurposing it for modern educational use instead. As imagined by Leddy Maytum Stacy, the building will become a public-facing “front door” for the campus, and will blend in on what is a rather heavily trafficked street thanks to public transit, foot traffic and nearby mixed-use developments. The developers are also aiming for Net-Zero Energy, which is of premium importance in California.

The California Street Campus will bring together all of the SFUHS STEM classrooms as well as faculty offices in one location. And because the school’s former gym, known as “The Devil Dome,” is not up to par with the athletic needs of the school, Truebeck has been tasked with constructing a newer facility that will offer both practice courts as well as a 650-seat competition court that can also be utilized as a multipurpose facility.

The California Street Campus also ensures that dining, administration as well as faculty services can be partitioned out fairly across all of the school’s five campuses.

The SFUHS has for over four decades been a beacon of secondary learning throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, helping to educate the next generation of leaders. This will be ever more important in Northern California, a region bedeviled with ever-increasing housing costs, a lack of labor as well as ongoing problems with equity for the unhoused. The new building is meant to strengthen the district’s ties with the community, including among teachers, families and alumni.

As an urban infill project, the new school construction will breathe new life to an underutilized site. The 48,000-square-foot building will also address the needs of campus expansion for the SFUHS, which has rapidly outgrown its Pacific Heights neighborhood.

In an email statement sent to 91ԭƬ, Bill Leddy, consulting principal at Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects, touted the California Street Campus and its so-called front door as a “multi-dimensional study in ultra-high efficiency” that welcomes students and visitors to the school “within a tight urban site.”

“It offers a range of healthy, flexible, daylit environments that support 21^st century learning and build a strong academic community,” Leddy said. “And it does all of this as a Zero Net Operational Carbon building, modeling living and learning in a hopeful, climate positive future.”

Subcontractors working with general contractor Truebeck include structural engineer Forell Elsesser, MEP and lighting engineer PAE, civil engineer Luk and Associates and dry utilities firm Urban Design Consulting Engineers.

The project is currently scheduled to finish in Spring 2025.

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