- Designed beyond the requirements of the Americans With Disabilities Act.
- Transit-oriented design.
- Universal and sustainable design.
The Ed Roberts Foundation, a leader within the Independent Living Movement of People with Disabilities, created a new, universally designed, transit-oriented campus located at the Ashby BART station in Berkeley, California. Arup worked with the Ed Roberts Foundation to create a model campus with a socially relevant design.
The 130,000ft2, $47m project incorporated exhibition space, community meeting rooms, a child development center, offices for non-profit organizations, vocational training facilities, and a café. The universal design went far beyond the requirements of the Americans With Disabilities Act to include numerous features that maximise the building’s functionality and accessibility to its users.
Arup provided structural, mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineering services as well as daylighting consulting, from early concept design through construction administration.
Design Features
The focal point for the Ed Roberts Campus is an internally-supported circular ramp that was cantilevered to make it appear to float. The ramp is located below a large oculus providing abundant daylight to fill the building atrium. A radiant heating system was employed to provide an energy efficient contribution to the building’s HVAC system.
Arup worked with the architects to integrate the campus into the existing Ashby BART station. An existing entry stairway to the station was demolished so that BART could be joined directly to the new structure. This required careful coordination with BART. In addition, the project was confined to height restriction due to the surrounding buildings that limited the slab to slab height to twelve feet.
The result? A building that is comfortably functional for as many people as possible.
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