InBerkeley

Photo: Kafziel, Wikimedia Commons

If you’re looking for a non-traditional and perhaps intellectually stimulating way to commemorate the anniversary of the 9/11/2001 terrorist attacks, perhaps a civil engineering lecture will fit the bill?

Abolhassan Astaneh-Asl, a professor in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at UC Berkeley, will be giving what has become an annual lecture in memory of the terrorist attacks at 3:30 pm on Friday, 9/11 in 502 Davis Hall.

He’ll be discussing his controversial structural study, first made public in 2006, that concluded that if the Twin Towers had been built to standard building codes, they may not have collapsed.

As he told the Chronicle of Higher Education in a 2006  article (premium access required):

“‘From the day that I stood there and watched it collapse” on television… ‘I was thinking that this is impossible. That there’s something strange here.’”

Events, Science, UC Berkeley, University 9/11, Architecture, Events, UC Berkeley

One of my favorite spots in Berkeley is Greenwood Common, a grouping of perfectly preserved mid-century modern homes — one or two of which have killer Bay views — masterminded by architect William Wurster.

Waverly Lowell, curator of the Environmental Design Archives at UC Berkeley, has a newly published book about this idyllic place. It is Living Modern: A Biography of Greenwood Common.

Architecture, Books, UC Berkeley Architecture, North Berkeley, William Wurster

It won’t officially launch until mid-August September 1, but The Hub—Berkeley’s new “habitat for innovators” in the David Brower Center—offered a taste Monday evening of the stimulating public events it plans to offer. A sold-out audience crowded into the center’s Richard and Rhoda Goldman Theater for “Money, Mobs, and Media,” a lively and candid discussion about mobilizing action for change. The panelists were the founders of three of the Bay Area’s most influential social-change organizations—Matt Flannery of Kiva, Steve Newcomb of Virgance, and Ben Rattray of Change.org—who shared stories about the challenges and rewards of blending entrepreneurship with activism.

“Tonight is the beginning of a seed sprouting,” said Alex Michel, managing director of Hub Bay Area, in his introduction. “People with ideas for change need a living, nourishing habitat, and we’re building that habitat upstairs.”

The Berkeley Hub, at 2150 Allston Way (less than a block from the Berkeley BART station), is the first U.S. location of a worldwide Hub network that was founded four years ago in London. (There are Hubs in 12 cities on four continents; a San Francisco Hub is in the works.) According to Hub “community builder” Meredith Walters, Hub Bay Area got its start when Tim Freundlich and Kevin Jones, co-founders of San Francisco investment firm Good Capital and creators of the Social Capital Markets conference, “realized that people in the Bay Area were itching for a place to come together to connect around social enterprise, social investing, and generally using business to create a better world.” They raised money and got permission from Hub World to launch at the Brower Center, itself a hub for environmental and socially conscious organizations. (The center’s other tenants include Earth Island Institute, Green Jobs Network, and the Redford Center.)

The Berkeley Hub will include individual petal-shaped tables, a communications station, a kitchen/café, a window workbar, and the “Hubble,” an enclosed meeting space for up to eight people whose frosted-glass walls can be written on. Hub memberships are available at various levels, from Hub5 (allowing five hours’ access per month) to founding member.

Hub Bay Area is also creating a network of mentors, sponsors, and people who can contribute professional skills to fledgling social enterprises. Find out more about joining or supporting The Hub; for information about attending or sponsoring an event, send an email to bayarea.hosts@the-hub.net or call 415-624-5881.

Business, Downtown Architecture, Business, Co-working, Downtown, Social Change

[Photos: Urban Bay Properties.]

Architecture, Property Architecture, Berkeley real estate, Property

A team of twelve teenagers was put in charge of designing a new $5.2m Berkeley-Albany YMCA teen center which will begin construction this fall on the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Center Street in downtown Berkeley. 

YMCA CEO Fran Gallati admits the experience has not been pain free, but “it’s been a good experiential process for these kids and we’ve had a lot of good adults guiding them”. 

Read the full story in the Berkeley Voice.

Architecture, Downtown Architecture, Downtown

As reported in the Nichi Bei Times (left) via the Berkeley Daily Planet, the Berkeley Landmarks Preservation Commission has voted to designate Japanese-American artist Chiura Obata’s former studio on Telegraph Avenue a landmark.

Though the Commission didn’t feel that the structure itself was worthy of notice, the building’s cultural significance rendered it worthy of landmark status.

Obata, who died in 1975,  had a successful career as a painter and was a faculty member in the Art Department at UC Berkeley from 1932 to 1953.

Read the full landmarking story here.

Architecture, Arts Architecture, Arts

Several Berkeley residents have demonstrated their commitment to architectural preservation again this year by putting enormous time, effort and money into restoring some of the city’s most interesting homes.

The Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association (BAHA) has just announced the winners of its annual Preservation Awards. Included in the prize list is Ballantine House (above) at 1512 La Loma Avenue.

This beautiful cottage was designed by John Ballantine in 1924 as his family’s home. Having lost a home in the Berkeley fire of 1923, Ballantine, who worked in the office of noted architect Henry Gutterson, made sure to choose fire-resistant materials — including a slate roof and concrete blocks that imitated stone — when building the house.

However, the home was not designed with earthquakes in mind, an issue that has now been thoughtfully addressed by its current owners who have overseen a skillful reconstruction of walls, beams and fireplace — even built-in cabinets — to ensure an invisible upgrade to 21st century standards.

For full details of all this year’s preservation winners, visit the BAHA website.

And for fans of Gutterson’s architecture, it’s worth knowing one of his Berkeley homes is currently for sale at 715 The Alameda — and its price is on the way down. It listed for $1,900,000 and is now at $1,675,000.

[Photos: Daniella Thompson, 2009, BAHA.]

Source: Home Girl.

Architecture, Property Architecture