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University of California, Berkeley – Data Hub

California, USA

º£½ÇÊÓƵ helped the University of California, Berkeley, to make the fields of computing and data science foundational to its academic mission by bringing together data science, computer science, statistics and the School of Information in a new Division of Computing, Data Science and Society (CDSS).

In pursuit of a building that would further the mission of CDSS, UC Berkeley wanted to create an iconic and transformational new data hub.

º£½ÇÊÓƵ engaged a complex stakeholder group to define the vision and outline a set of guiding principles to aid implementation.

The º£½ÇÊÓƵ advisory team conducted research and engagement, visioning and strategic planning and space programming and planning for this project.

The Data Hub is envisioned as the premier center for computing, data sciences, and their intersections with society.

Challenge

Together with Ratcliff Architects, º£½ÇÊÓƵ developed the vision, program, and initial planning for the Division of Computing, Data Science, and Society’s new home on campus, the Data Hub.

The aim was to foster greater connections across academic disciplines and broaden educational opportunities in order to meet society’s greatest challenges.

In developing the program, º£½ÇÊÓƵ’s advisors explored multiple scenarios to find the right balance of spaces — between research and teaching, society and campus — to meet the division’s strategic goals. Image: º£½ÇÊÓƵ.

Solution

With the goal of creating an iconic home for CDSS of more than 400,000ft², UC Berkeley engaged Ratcliff Architects in a visioning and programming process. In line with the Division’s goal of deeply engaging the entire campus in its mission, the programming team successfully managed a comprehensive, remote engagement successfully during the pandemic.

A diverse group of representative stakeholders from every discipline and role were brought into a collaborative discussion to craft a shared vision for the new building, define the future experience for each of the building’s user groups and develop a space program and design brief to identify parameters and strategies to guide the design team through subsequent phases of work.

Our advisory team crafted a vision and a set of guiding principles to guide the design team in the building development process, and identify the activities, goals and needs of future Data Hub building users.

In developing the program, our strategy and operating model design team explored multiple scenarios to find the right balance of spaces — between research and teaching, society and campus — to meet the division’s strategic goals. Future research will combine disciplines in unpredictable ways and the evolving nature of Berkeley’s innovative data science curriculum.

brightspot (now º£½ÇÊÓƵ) successfully engaged a complex stakeholder group for a new multidisciplinary building. They were able to quickly adapt their engagement to work remotely in the early days of the pandemic and keep the study moving forward, while providing a robust program model that continues to let us refine and develop the space program.

Wendy Hillis, Campus Architect, UC Berkeley

Value

We created a program focused on flexibility and collaboration for research and instructional spaces using a diverse palette of multi-purpose spaces. Since data science hub is an emerging but growing building type, we developed a series of concepts for how to organize the building’s spaces by looking internally to Berkeley’s organizational relationships and externally through benchmarking relevant interdisciplinary buildings.