Unprecedented campus construction marked Carol Christ’s chancellorship
It's been "a golden era for UC Berkeley's physical development," says Marc Fisher, vice chancellor for administration.
![An exterior rendering of Chou Hall, which opened in 2017 at the Haas School of Business and provided much-needed space for classrooms and meeting rooms.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/news.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Chou-Hall2-1-scaled.jpg)
UC Regents
![Berkeley Way West is a multi-story academic building at Shattuck Avenue and Berkeley Way that was completed in 2018. It's home to the School of Education, the Department of Psychology and the School of Public Health. It has large glass windows and a modern look. People are walking past it on the sidewalk.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/news.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Berkeley-Way-West-1-scaled.jpg)
Melani King/UC Berkeley
![David Blackwell Hall is a student residence hall on Durant Avenue at Dana Street. It has a bright exterior with yellow and white paneling and rust-colored walls on the ground level.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/news.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/David-Blackwell-Hall.jpg)
American Campus Communities
![The Northern Regional Library Facility at UC Berkeley's Richmond Field Station is a very large, modern-looking warehouse structure with deep orange-color vertical panels on its exterior. It's a place where millions of library items are stored for the entire UC system.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/news.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Northern-Regional-Library-Facility-Phase-4.jpg)
UC Berkeley Capital Strategies
![The interior of the Bakar BioEnginuity Hub, a campus incubator for innovation in the STEM fields. The open light-filled space originally was the Berkeley Art Museum and was built in 1970 in cast concrete.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/news.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Bakar-BioEnginuity-Hub-scaled.jpg)
Brittany Hosea-Small for UC Berkeley
![Workmen enter historic Giannini Hall wearing safety hats and vests. At the entrance to the building is a ladder and a tool cart. They are doing seismic and accessibility and life safety upgrades. Their project ended in November 2020.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/news.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Giannini-Hall-scaled.jpg)
Brittany Hosea-Small for UC Berkeley
![A photo of South Hall, the oldest building on campus. shows the restoration work done to its aging exterior. The improvements include cleaned-up red brick walls, new roof shingles, which are in a decorative pattern, and a repaired east portico and stairs.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/news.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/South-Hall-scaled.jpg)
Brittany Hosea-Small for UC Berkeley
![A photo of the exterior of Stephens Hall now that its exterior has been cleaned, repainted and given new windows. This view is looking up at the building, with the words Stephens Hall over the archway, from the sidewalk.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/news.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Stephens-Hall.jpg)
UC Regents
![A view of the Greek Theatre stage from high above the U-shaped seating, where terraces have been built with green grass to allow for patrons to sit on the lawn and to contain concession stands.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/news.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Greek-Theatre-scaled.jpg)
UC Berkeley Capital Strategies
![An artist's rendering of what UC Berkeley's campus will look like in the future according to the campus master plan](https://cdn.statically.io/img/news.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/LRDP-Campus-Master-Plan-scaled.jpg)
UC Berkeley Capital Strategies/Sasaki/Page
![A workman covers up with a long board the words](https://cdn.statically.io/img/news.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Building-Unnamings-1-scaled.jpg)
Irene Yi/UC Berkeley
![An artist's rendering of the future Undergraduate Academic Building that will be on central campus. L-shaped, the massive building will provide 27 classrooms, Letters & Science Advising and a 400-seat auditorium. This view should the courtyard and landscape outside, where students can sit and study or relax.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/news.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Undergraduate-Academic-Building-scaled.jpg)
LMN Architects and TEF Design
![A 1908 Tudor-style house owned by UC Berkeley is being renovated converted into the Haas Entrepreneurship Hub. This rendering shows students sitting outside in a landscape with flower, a climbing trellis and space for tables and chairs.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/news.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Haas-Entrepreneurship-Hub.jpg)
UC Berkeley Capital Strategies
![An artist's rendering of Helen Diller House, a multi-story housing complex on Oxford Street that's designed for transfer students. It will open in August 2024.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/news.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Anchor-House.jpg)
Morris Adjmi Architects
![The Intesection Apartments, completed in 2021, are in Emeryville and are in a multi-storied modern building with horizontal metal paneling and concrete on the lowest level, where the parking lot entrance is.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/news.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Intersection-Apartments.jpg)
Lowney Architecture
![An ariel view by an artist of what People's Park will look like once construction ends. There is a large, T-shaped student residence hall and a smaller housing complex for people in need, plus a large park in between the two structures.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/news.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Peoples-Park-Housing.jpg)
LMS Architects/Hood Design Studio
![An artist's rendering of the new Engineering Center, an open a light-filled building that is under construction on campus. It will encase the current Bechtel Engineering Center and overlook Memorial Glade.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/news.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Engineering-Center-scaled.jpg)
SOM
![An image of the new graduate student apartments in Albany, which are arranged into a five-building, multi-story complex that opens in August 2024. The AC transit bus stop is in front of the building, and students are depicted walking, running and riding their bikes.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/news.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/xucyun-ruwway-scaled.jpg)
Ayers Saint Gross Architects/ American Campus Communities
![An artist's rendering shows the new Creekside Center, a renovated building that previously was the Dwinelle Annex. It has vertical, wood-paneled siding and mint green window trim and is two stories tall. It will be the new home of the Disabled Students' Program.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/news.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Creekside-Center-scaled.jpg)
LMS Architects
![An artist's view from above of The Gateway, a large campus building under construction that will be a new home for the College of Computing, Data Science, and Society. It has a U-shaped entrance that faces Hearst Avenue. It's multi-storied with a rooftop event space and a light and airy feel, despite being an extremely large complex with labs, classrooms, auditoriums, a public café and more.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/news.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/The-Gateway-scaled.jpg)
Weiss/Manfredi
![An artist's rendering of Centennial Bridge, a replacement being built on Centennial Drive for an existing, aging bridge constructed in 1965.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/news.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Centennial-Bridge.jpg)
UC Berkeley Capital Strategies
![The Berkeley Innovation Zone, shown in this artist's rendering, will be a hub for life sciences, materials science and climate research. It's immediately west of the Crescent Lawn and has two main buildings separated by a courtyard.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/news.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Bakar-ClimatEnginuity-Hub-scaled.jpg)
Gensler
![The entrance to Moffitt Library shows gleaming class windows with a student walking toward the door and another studying on a bench outside. The sun is peeking over the rooftop.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/news.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Moffitt-Library.jpg)
Keegan Houser/UC Berkeley
![An artist's rendering of a replacement for the women's softball field that will be a significant upgrade with new seating, new press box, lighting, team and locker rooms and training facilities.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/news.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Cal-Softball-Field-1-scaled.jpg)
HOK
![An artist's rendering of the new Bancroft Parking Structure, which will electric vehicles and help replace some of the campus parking being lost to construction projects.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/news.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Bancroft-Parking-Garage.png)
UC Berkeley Capital Strategies
![An image of the 36-acre Berkeley Space Center that's planned for NASA Ames in Silicon Valley. An aerial view, it shows a big grassy area with pedestrians walkways through it that lead to massive high-rise buildings with rooftop gardens.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/news.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Berkeley-Space-Center-1.png)
Field Operations and HOK, copyright Moffett Partners, LLC
June 11, 2024
As her retirement nears, UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ is being lauded as a collaborative and effective leader who is decisive, a listener and team builder, and a champion of free speech, equity and inclusion, and knowledge creation.
These values and priorities all are embodied in what likely will be Christ’s most visible legacy at Berkeley: major changes to its physical landscape. Such a level of building activity, all on her watch, hasn’t been seen at Berkeley since the 1960s.
Hundreds of construction projects — from small to immense — were completed, got underway or are soon to start. Major highlights in the slideshow above include the Bakar BioEnginuity Hub, an incubator for biotech startups serving the greater good; Creekside Center, an essential space for the Disabled Students’ Program; and the Gateway, a 367,270-square-foot home for the College of Computing, Data Science, and Society.
Marc Fisher, vice chancellor for administration, calls Christ’s tenure “a golden era for UC Berkeley’s physical development.”
![Five people including Chancellor Christ put shovels into a box of earth at a groundbreaking ceremony for Anchor House, an apartment complex for graduate students. Each is wearing a yellow hard hat and smiling at the camera.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/news.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/DSC_7721-1024x676.jpg)
Keegan Houser/UC Berkeley
“Her visionary leadership has not only expanded our campus infrastructure,” he says, “but enhanced our academic and research capabilities and set new standards for excellence and sustainability. We’ve witnessed the construction of cutting-edge research facilities, modernized classrooms and new housing complexes — all designed to meet the needs of our diverse and dynamic community.”
Christ also unnamed five campus buildings, upon advice from the Building Name Review Committee she launched, and supported names for new buildings that are more inclusive and representative of the broader campus community.
Campus architect Wendy Hillis adds that Christ’s dedication to Berkeley’s long range development plan and the creation in 2022 of the new campus master plan “reflects her deep understanding of the critical role that physical spaces play in fostering academic excellence and community. Her impact on our campus will be felt for generations.”