Buildings
Toyo Ito to Design First U.S. Building for Berkeley
(archrecord.construction.com - 10/11/2006)
By Naomi Pollock
On September 26, the University of California,
Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA) announced
that it had selected Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects
to design its new home. When completed the facility will be
the Tokyo-based architect’s first building in the United
States.
Beating out 141 other candidates, Ito
is now at work on his conceptual design; he was chosen on
the basis of his previous work. The author of numerous cultural
and commercial projects, Ito is famous for experimental buildings
that include the Mediateque [RECORD May 2001], a public building
that is supported by hollow columns made of steel tubes ringing
its perimeter.
Uniting the university’s extensive
art collection and film archive with spaces for emergent art
forms, the Berkeley project promises to elicit an innovative
response. The University envisions the new building as a “cultural
learning laboratory” where visual arts, research, and
education will converge.
Situated on a corner site near the University’s
western entrance and the Berkeley BART station, Ito’s
building will occupy a critical juncture between the campus
and the city’s growing arts district. The move to this
location followed a 1997 seismic survey revealing that BAM/PFA’s
1970 building did not comply with code. In addition to meeting
California’s strict earthquake requirements, the University
and the architect hope the museum will achieve LEED Silver
certification.
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