UC Berkeley's Student Athlete High Performance Center

UC Berkeley’s Student Athlete High Performance Center Project Brief

UC Berkeley was investigating several project initiatives in the Southeast District of the campus, an area that had grown organically, with little comprehensive vision, along Piedmont Avenue, one of the original Olmsted-defined avenues that described the extent of the campus. These projects included a collaborative undertaking between the Haas School of Business and Berkeley’s School of Law known as the Law and Business Connection Building – to be located between both schools – as well as the Student Athlete High Performance Center (SAHPC), a much-needed athletic facility dedicated to both Cal Bears football and high-level sports training, including Olympic training. In an effort to give vision to these projects in the context of the extended campus, Berkeley hired landscape architect David Rubin, former partner at OLIN, now of David Rubin | LAND COLLECTIVE, to define the connective elements that would unify these projects into a Southeast Campus Master Plan, fostering connectivity across Piedmont and unifying the extended area with the rest of campus. Simultaneously developing the vision plan, Rubin collaborated with architectural teams on the Stadium effort (HNTB Los Angeles and STUDIOS Architecture SF) and the Law and Business project (Moore Ruble Yudell Architects) to ensure that the ideals of the bigger vision were also included in these projects. 

Although the Law and Business collaboration did not come to fruition, the SAHPC building and ancillary projects associated with the upgrade of the historic stadium moved forward. Working with HNTB Los Angeles and Studios Architecture SF, Rubin redefined the proposed facility not as a four-sided construct that would compete with the historic structure, but as a complementary structure that could harmoniously fit within the significant topography of the site (Berkeley’s stadium is set on a steep slope such that the western façade is fully expressed while the eastern façade is non-existent – the eastern edge is flush with grade) and preserve and embellish the historic vista to the stadium (in a majority of the stadium’s life, the façade acted as a wayfinding device and identifier for this area of campus).  By pushing the SAHPC down into the ground and taking advantage of the slope of the land, the resultant built form would be expressed as a “smile” on the western face, while the roof of the building could become a viable civic landscape for the University, supporting the campus when 65,000 people are in attendance at a game, or on non-game days, when students, faculty and administration are seeking a new, sacred space within the campus.

In collaboration with the building architects, Rubin used landscape principles to inform the character of the new structure. With consideration to the potential composition as a whole, somehow, the materiality of the project had to unify the articulated, board-formed concrete Beaux Arts stadium with the rhyolite wall running along Piedmont’s northern eastern sidewalk and everything in between. Informed by John Dixon Hunt’s writings on “The Three Natures,” where proximity to culture is defined in the landscape through increasing refinement and decreasing rustication, Rubin created a palette of stone and concrete that changes as one approaches the stadium from Piedmont.  This Renaissance principle defines landscape in three parts – the cultured landscape (manicured gardens), the agricultural landscape (productive fields), and the Realm of the Gods (that area of nature described as “wild”). Olmsted understood these principles, whether explicit or inferred, and deployed them in his work, including the Biltmore estate and Central Park. Applied at Berkeley, the coarse nature of the Rhyolite wall became the most rusticated threshold, the SAHPC walls and façade were generated in degrees of refinement in stone and concrete from more coarse to less coarse, and the historic stadium walls represent the most refined surface – an articulated Beaux Arts façade.

What used to be parking and drive lanes encircling the stadium is now a civic plaza which serves the campus as a gathering space, where the landscape of the Oak Grove climbs up on top of the new structure, creating an ecotone of greater diversity that will, eventually, link the Oak Grove with the Berkeley Hills to the northeast. Previous to this project, the Oak Grove was isolated – an island of landscape surrounded by Piedmont and parking.  One of the greatest challenges of the project was convincing the administration of the viability of landscape over structure. Using built examples and Rubin’s twenty years of experience designing landscapes over structure, the administration was guardedly convinced of the importance of landscape elements in creating a new civic space that would become a gathering point for the University on game- and non-game days throughout the year.

Canal Park in ASLA's DIRT

Canal Park, designed by David A. Rubin while partner at OLIN, is featured in the American Society of Landscape Architects' website magazine, DIRT. The feature is entitled "A New Park Where There Was Once A Canal."

Canal Park

Washington Canal Park Project Statement

From the outset, Canal Park was imagined to be a great spacein a city of iconic spaces – one that would give individual identity to theSoutheast District of Washington, D.C., but also be a draw to this newlyrevitalized community at a regional and national level. It needed to be aflexible and adaptable social space for a neighborhood whose residents were yetto be completely defined – a park that could offer amenities to residents ofmarket-rate and worker housing equally, to allow people a place of their own,whether a single urban dweller seeking a quiet destination or a family of manymembers enjoying opportunities for recreation, Canal Park offers amenities tocelebrate life together.

The three-black long park, once a depot of idling buses, isdesigned to be the leader in urbanenvironmental strategies: stormwater management at a scale that works with theneighborhood, not just the park itself; energy efficiency in its programmingand structures – 28 geo-thermal wells supply energy for park pavilions; soilremediation for this former brownfield; and an urban and urbane plant palette thatrecognizes both ecological sensitivity and that this park will be used 365-daysa year. And the design needed to be deferential to the history of the site – a southernbranch of the historic C&O Canal. Canal Park is a pilot project for theSustainable Sites Initiative (SITE™) and is a candidate for LEED® Goldcertification.

The design of Canal Park was led by David Rubin whilepartner at OLIN, now of David Rubin|Land Collective, in collaboration withSTUDIOS Architecture, whose park pavilions are inspired by the barges that usedto float through the canal, and the creative engineering concepts of Nitsch Engineering. Together, the team and their consultants have created a park thatis forward thinking in energy and resource management, design, and socialpurpose.

Canal Park has been designed to receive a broad spectrum of peopleand adapt to a neighborhood that is not yet completely defined. Not knowing whothe final users will be requires a flexible design – a park that is capable ofadapting to its future users, today, tomorrow, and for years to come. The northernblock is the most flexible of the three, with a large lawn plat for crowds togather for evening movies, concerts and performances throughout the year. Thepavilion on this block will contain lawn chairs for rent, so that people candistribute themselves in the most democratic of fashions, anywhere they like.

The middle block allows for the set-up of markets and fairs,depending upon the programming schedule, and caters to flexible play andobservation – a small lawn area is surrounded on three sides by generouslyproportioned fixed seating made from sustainably harvested American BlackLocust – allowing parents to watch their children in the comfort of a limited accessspace. The pavilion opposite is a storage unit for play items that can bedistributed on the adjacent lawn, as well as container for fountain equipment. Butthe park-goers see it as an impromptu stage for puppet theater performances orother attractions.

The first block along M Street is the most urban, with aniconic open-joint fountain in which people can play, or when turned off, it canbe transformed into a flexible program space. The café along Second Placehouses a restaurant, with an accessible green roof which acts as a belvederefor the park, and the bleacher stairs which ascend to it, are focused on thefountain area, to allow people to gather and observe. In the winter months,these stairs allow people to watch their family and friends skate on thenation’s second linear ice skating rink, reminiscent of the tradition ofskating on canals in the winter months. A Black Locust “ribbon bench” anchorsthe fountain and rink on the southeast corner.

The historic canal is also referenced in the rain gardenwhich runs along the east side of the park. Here, Canal Park’s surface stormwateris collected as a visible reminder of the working nature of the urban park. Therain garden spans the length of the Park and represents the succession of theAnacostia; the plant palette is a transect of nature, from the open- andedge-water areas of the southern block (sedges and cattails), to the woodlandspecies of the north block (Redbuds and Sweetgums).

But the real beauty of Canal Park is in the extraordinaryinfrastructure of the park itself. Conceptualized by Nitsch Engineering, thevisionary approach to stormwater management demonstrates a unique partnershipbetween public and private entities to implement green infrastructure at a neighborhoodscale. Rainwater is collected from the park pavilions and the site in two undergroundcisterns capable for holding 80,000 gallons for reuse within the park asirrigation, toilet flushing and the replenishment of the ice skating rink andthe fountains, satisfying up to 95% of the park’s needs. Because the waterdemands of the park will exceed the amount of rainwater that can be collectedon-site, the engineers proposed extending the system to the as-yet un-builtparcels adjacent to the park – piping has been extended beyond the parkproperty to create a neighborhood-scale stormwater management system – a modelfor future development across the country.

By capturing, cleansing, and reusing stormwater within the site, the projectaims to not only reduce the amount of water this is withdrawn from City waterinfrastructure, but also reduce the amount of stormwater discharged to Citydrainage infrastructure. Nitsch estimates that once the adjacent building roofdrains have been tied into the Canal Park stormwater collection system, thedesign could save approximately 1.5 million gallons of potable water on averageeach year and minimize the region’s development impact on combined seweroverflows polluting the Anacostia River during large storm events.

Opening Day - Canal Park

Opening Night Skate                                               © Land Collective

First-Day Skate                                                        © Land Collective

Ribbon Bench at Canal Park                                   © Land Collective

Ribbon Bench Leap                     © Land Collective

U.S. Airways Magazine

This month's U.S. Airways Magazine features the U.S. Air Force Memorial on its cover, a competition won by Jim Freed of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners and designed and developed in collaboration with David Rubin while partner at OLIN.

Dell #Inspire 100

David A. Rubin is honored to be included on the Dell #Inspire 100 list acknowledging "100 influencers in entrepreneurship, philanthropy, education and media who use technology to empower and inspire others." To learn more, click here and look under "The Creatives”.

"David Rubin | LAND COLLECTIVE finds technology most inspiring when it joins with design and social sciences to foster serendipitous encounters in artful spaces, allowing different kinds of people to meet and exchange ideas. Unexpected encounters can lead to new conversations, and new conversations can produce new ideas--ideas that one day might save the world."

It is an honor to be included in a list of such extraordinary talent.

Dell #Inspire 100 Press Release

David Rubin | LAND COLLECTIVE Vol. #4 - Canal Park

Canal Park is opening on Friday, November 16th and contractors are putting the finishing touches on this slender three-block long Park built on the site of the historic 19th century C&O Canal and former bus depot. Situated in the Southeast District of Washington, D.C., Canal Park is an extraordinary example of design and technology synthesized into a socially-purposeful, environmentally-sensitive public park - one that will be an economic driver for the District and a regional and national icon in the grand tradition of the best landscape architecture.

Canal Park is designed to be a flexible and adaptable social space for a neighborhood whose residents are yet to be completely defined - a Park that will offer amenities to residents of market-rate and worker housing equally, that will allow people a place of their own, whether a single urban dweller or a family of many members – a place to celebrate life together. Canal Park is the leader in urban environmental strategies: stormwater management at a scale that works with the neighborhood, not just the Park itself, energy efficiency in its programming and structures, including electric car re-charge stations, soil remediation for this former brownfield, and an urban and urbane plant palette that recognizes both ecological sensitivity and that this park will be used 365-days a year.

The design of Canal Park was led by David Rubin while Partner at OLIN in collaboration with consultants including STUDIOS Architecture, whose pavilions are inspired by the barges that used to float through the canal, and the creative stormwater management concepts of Nitsch Engineering. Together, the team and their additional consultants have created a park that is forward-thinking in energy efficiency and resource management, design, and social purpose.

Canal Park Stormwater Management Diagram                                                     © David Rubin | LAND COLLECTIVE 

In addition to its design, the beauty of Canal Park is in the conceptualized infrastructure of the Park itself. The visionary approach to stormwater management demonstrates a unique partnership between public and private entities to implement green infrastructure at a neighborhood scale. Rainwater is collected from Park pavilions and the site in underground cisterns for reuse within the park as irrigation, toilet flushing and the replenishment of the ice skating rink and the Park fountains. Because the water demands of the park will exceed the amount of rainwater that can be collected on-site, the system is extended to the as-yet un-built parcels adjacent to the Park to create a neighborhood-scale stormwater management system – a model for future development.

By capturing, cleansing, and reusing stormwater within the site, the project aims to not only reduce the amount of water that is withdrawn from City water infrastructure, but also reduce the amount of stormwater discharged to the City's drainage system. Nitsch Engineering estimates that once the adjacent building roof drains have been tied into the Canal Park collection system, the design could save approximately 1.5 million gallons of potable water on average each year and minimize the region’s development impact on combined sewer overflows polluting the Anacostia River during large storm events.