Bakar BioEnginuity Hub

Berkeley University Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive
Excellent

Bakar BioEnginuity Hub

Bakar BioEnginuity Hub is the conversion of a historically significant campus building deemed seismically unsafe into a structurally-sound, state of the art laboratory and workspace facility. The project is a private/public partnership in conjunction with the University of California, Berkeley.

Credit

Courtesy of Bruce Damonte

Site overview

Founded in 1963, Berkeley Art Museum is one of the largest university art museums in the country. In 1964, a competition was held for the design of a new museum building and the commission was awarded to Mario Ciampi and Associates. The selection jury declared, “The richness of this building will arise from the sculptural beauty of its rugged major forms and will not require costly materials or elaborate details. We believe this design . . . can become one of the outstanding contributions to museum design in our time.” The distinctive Modernist design, a 101,000-square-foot reinforced concrete building, houses the museum’s 16,000 objects but no longer meets seismic standards, a particularly challenging problem for an open gallery and exhibition space that eschews adding support walls. The building was slated for demolition in 2005, despite Ciampi’s recommendations for addressing the seismic issues. In 2014, the Ciampi building officially closed its doors, and in 2016, a new museum building opened on Center Street in downtown Berkeley. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the building was reimagined and reopened in 2022. Today it serves as an important epicenter for life science innovation.

Bakar BioEnginuity Hub

Site overview

Founded in 1963, Berkeley Art Museum is one of the largest university art museums in the country. In 1964, a competition was held for the design of a new museum building and the commission was awarded to Mario Ciampi and Associates. The selection jury declared, “The richness of this building will arise from the sculptural beauty of its rugged major forms and will not require costly materials or elaborate details. We believe this design . . . can become one of the outstanding contributions to museum design in our time.” The distinctive Modernist design, a 101,000-square-foot reinforced concrete building, houses the museum’s 16,000 objects but no longer meets seismic standards, a particularly challenging problem for an open gallery and exhibition space that eschews adding support walls. The building was slated for demolition in 2005, despite Ciampi’s recommendations for addressing the seismic issues. In 2014, the Ciampi building officially closed its doors, and in 2016, a new museum building opened on Center Street in downtown Berkeley. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the building was reimagined and reopened in 2022. Today it serves as an important epicenter for life science innovation.

Awards

Design

Award of Excellence

Civic

A Civic/Institutional Design Award of Excellence recognizes the restoration of the Bakar BioEnginuity Hub, a project that ingeniously revitalized a celebrated architectural treasure. Originally the Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive, designed by Mario Ciampi, Richard L. Jorasch and Ronald E. Wagner, it earned acclaim upon its 1970 opening for its Brutalist design featuring staggered Cubist masses, a soaring atrium, and sculptural forms. However, in 1997, structural concerns cast doubt on its future, prompting fears of demolition. After years of uncertainty, a visionary partnership emerged in 2016 between the University of California, Berkeley, and Bakar Labs. Their goal was to preserve the building's historical significance while reimagining it as a cutting-edge life science hub, fostering collaboration among students, startups, and biotech firms. The restoration encountered formidable challenges due to the building's unique geometry and all-concrete structure. Studies were conducted to safeguard its character-defining elements. An expansion beneath the cantilevered upper galleries offered additional space without compromising the original structure. Seismic retrofitting, infrastructure modernization, and a shift to all-electric systems ensured code compliance and operational carbon neutrality. The Bakar BioEnginuity Hub, unveiled in 2022, serves as a vibrant epicenter for life science innovation. It preserves an architectural legacy and provides researchers with an inspiring backdrop for groundbreaking endeavors. 

“Despite all of the challenges in restoring Brutalist buildings, especially those with large interior spaces such as this, they prevailed with great success. The preservation community rallied to save it, and the project team developed a smart strategy for seismic upgrades without losing the interior atrium. It is a perfect example of what can be done when there is a will behind it.”

- Barbara Bestor, 2023 Jury chair
Client

University of California, Berkeley (QB3) with Bakar Labs

Restoration Team

MBH Architects

Primary classification

Recreation (REC)

Secondary classification

Education (EDC)

Designations

U.S. National Register of Historic Places, listed on January 8, 2014 | Berkeley Landmark #312, designated on February 2, 2012

Location

2626 Bancroff Way
Berkeley, CA

Country

USA
Credit:

Courtesy of Bruce Damonte

Designer(s)

Other designers

Mario J. Ciampi, Richard L. Jorasch, Ronald E. Wagner, Paul W. Reiter

Related Sites

Commission

1967

Completion

7 November 1970

References

http://ohp.parks.ca.gov/pages/1067/files/ca_alameda%20county_university%20art%20museum.pdf