Item 11 - Attachment 1
Planning Commission
February 20, 2013
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY
BERKELEY • DAVIS • IRVINE • LOS ANGELES • MERCED • RIVERSIDE • SAN DIEGO • SAN FRANCISCO
FACILITIES SERVICES
SANTA BARBARA • SANTA CRUZ
BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA 94720-1380
February 2013
TO:
FR:
RE:
City of Berkeley Planning Commission; City of Berkeley Design Review Committee
Jennifer McDougall, Principal Planner, UC Berkeley
Cal Aquatics Facility, West of 2222 Bancroft Way
Background: UC Berkeley is one of only three NCAA aquatics programs in the country that provides participation
opportunities to athletes in men’s swimming and diving, women’s swimming and diving, men’s water polo, and
women’s water polo. Nearly 150 student-athletes currently compete in these programs at Cal.
Despite the overwhelming success of these programs (with numerous NCAA team championships, individual NCAA
championships, and Olympic medals), they are constrained by a lack of available pool and land-side facilities for
training and competition, both in terms of times available for practice and amount of water space. The shortage of
pool facilities is a significant challenge campus-wide for Intercollegiate Athletics and other users, including
recreational swimmers, physical education students, and community partners. Realization of the proposed project
would expand pool availability for all these users.
Project Overview: The Cal Aquatics Center is an intercollegiate aquatic facility to be located on what is currently a
University owned parking lot, west of the University Health Service Tang Center at 2222 Bancroft Way, and flanked
by Bancroft Way to the north and Durant Avenue to the south. It will consist of three single-level buildings
surrounding a 50 meter swimming pool with a dive tower and a small spa pool for diver conditioning. The dive
tower will have 10M, 7.5M, 5M, 3M and 1M diving platforms.
The main entry to the facility, located on Bancroft
Way, will be centered between the Edwards Field concrete pylons across the street as a way of visually connecting
back to the University and the athletics precinct. A mid-block pedestrian passageway between the proposed facility
and the UHS Tang Center will connect Bancroft Way and Durant Ave.
The main building, fronting Bancroft Way, will contain a team meeting/multi-purpose room, the main entry passage
way, and the main pool mechanical rooms.
The building’s simple rectangular mass, a rectangular box, will be constructed of precision-cut concrete masonry,
layered with a perforated metal skin. Translucent glass will weave in and out of the box creating a pattern and
rhythm along Bancroft Way, consistent with the character of existing adjacent commercial buildings. The main pool
mechanical rooms, located within the east end of the building mass, offer direct access from Bancroft Way for service
and supplies. Translucent glass walls on the north side of the team meeting room will provide natural light while
maintaining privacy for team training and meetings. Sun-shaded clear glass walls to the south and west will look out
to the pool deck and a patio area respectively.
The locker room building will be sited along the west edge of the project site and contain locker rooms, showers and
restrooms for the men's and women's water polo, swimming and diving teams. A public restroom will be provided
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, CAL AQUATICS CENTER
at the north end of the building. The building mass will be mostly rectangular in shape and constructed of precisioncut concrete masonry accented with punched translucent clerestory windows. Translucent skylights will bring
additional natural light into the changing areas and bathrooms.
Pool and training equipment storage will be sited along the entire 50-meter length of the pool on the east edge of the
project site. Like the other building elements of the project, the simple rectangular form will be constructed of
precision-cut concrete masonry.
A two-centerline dive tower will be placed at the south end of the pool. 1M and 3M springboard platforms will flank
the dive tower. The dive tower will have 10M, 7.5M, 5M, 3M and 1M diving platforms. The structures will be made
of cast in place concrete. A glass-enclosed stair will provide divers with weather protection as they ascend to the
various platforms.
The facility will be enclosed with a minimum 8 foot high metal fence. Vines growing on the fence will create a
permeable visual screen surrounding the facility. Along the mid-block passage way, portions of the fence will be left
free from planted vines for unobstructed viewing into the facility.
The mid-block passageway will be lit for safer passage.
Along the entire length of the west edge of the site, a flow-through planter will act as a bio-swale, filtering storm
water run-off from the facility. The existing parking lot area not affected by the new facility will be slurry sealed and
re-striped. Along Bancroft Way, new trees and a new sidewalk will replace the existing trees and sidewalk. Planters
and bicycle parking will be added along the front of the facility.
Use: The project does not include any permanent seating for spectators, as the facility will be used primarily for
training. However, in the rare instance when event seating is required, the deck areas will accommodate temporary
bleachers for up to 500 spectators. The temporary bleachers will be delivered through double gates located at the SE
corner of the site, immediately off of Durant.
For the rare evening competitive event, the project includes event lighting to meet the Pac 12 Network illumination
requirement for 70fc average maintained over the main deck and pool. The project proposes to mount LED fixtures
on 30'-0" high poles, evenly spaced along the east and west sides of the pool. These fixtures meet the Pac 12 Network
requirements, without using a traditional event lighting concept that would have required large clusters of fixtures on
60' to 80' high poles (thus keeping light spillage and neighborhood glare to a minimum).
CEQA Review: A subsequent EIR is under preparation for the project.
Preliminary schedule: We anticipate construction to begin summer, 2013, and continue approximately 10 months.
Further questions: Please contact Jennifer with any questions or concerns at (510)642-7720 or
jmcdougall@berkeley.edu.
Attachments: Project graphics package
Page 2
Item 11 - Attachment 2
Planning Commission
February 20, 2013
Item 11 - Attachment 3
Planning Commission
February 20, 2013
UNIVERSITY OF
CALIFORNIA,
BERKELEY
Intercollegiate Aquatics
Center
Friends of
Cal Aquatics
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY
ATHLETIC DEVELOPMENT OFFICE BEAR BACKERS
195 HAAS PAVILION
BERKELEY, CA 94720-4422
SCHEMATIC DESIGN
FEBRUARY 11, 2013
LANDSCAPE
PLANTING PLAN
LS1.2