Fostering Community Living for Students
Previously, this 4-acre site was used as overflow parking for the University Village community — now, xučyun ruwway triples the existing supply of university-owned housing for single graduate students by adding 286 apartment-style units. For social connection and well-being beyond the apartments, a series of courtyards provide more than 55,000 sqft of space for passive, social and active uses. The landscape offers a multitude of experiences for an individual or groups of all sizes.
The planting strategy includes native Oaks and vegetation that extends the California Oak habitat and urban forest eco-corridor. This is due to the site’s unique position next to the Village Creek, a rare urban riparian habitat with high ecological value. This re-oaking approach aims to restore the ecologically diverse and distinctive ecosystem with native Oaks, Sycamore, and adapted tree species, while also providing shade, conserving water, and sequestering carbon.
Students can lounge and relax in the Garden Courtyard’s hammocks, nooks, and pollinator gardens, gather around fire pits, barbecues, and picnic tables in the Social Courtyard, and use new multi-use lawns and terraces within the Active Courtyard. Mirroring the courtyards, the streetscape design along Jackson Street moves from passive to social with the use of a meandering sidewalk and seating. Tucked within the courtyards are new reading pods made from Alaskan Yellow Cedar wood and concrete. Featuring overhead paneling and lighting, the curved pods create a warm and comfortable space surrounded by lush and verdant planting.
Image Credit: Bruce Damonte
UC Berkeley consulted with East Bay Ohlone tribes to name the campus building. Albany and Berkeley are part of the “xučyun” region within the ancestral and unceded homeland of the East Bay Ohlone people, and in Chochenyo, the language of the Ohlone, “ruwway” means a home or a house.
