The Stadium is visible from many points around the campus, the City of Berkeley, and neighboring cities—preserving the original façade was key to retaining the identity and restoring the dignity of the structure. Seismic issues were also of particular concern as the stadium literally straddles the Hayward Fault Line. Our team achieved the dual delicate historic preservation and major seismic retrofit by partially gutting the interior of the stadium while protecting the historic exterior through an extensive temporary bracing system. Then, special structural systems were implemented to allow the two halves of the bowl to move separately during a seismic event.

We set the new Simpson Center athlete training facility into the landscape and in front of the stadium as a land form building, creating a new grand 2-acre public plaza for the stadium on the roof. This design move freed up space and volume within the stadium, allowing for a new concourse and fan amenity spaces within the volume of the old structure. The new press box/club crowns the historic wall; its truss-like design acts as a counterpoint to the historic facade.

The new Simpson Center is seamlessly integrated into the hillside, complementing rather than competing with the stadium, and acting as a visual plinth for the stadium façade above. Skylights feed ample natural light into the open and airy interior spaces.

The Center houses 450 athletes within thirteen of the University’s intercollegiate men’s and women’s teams. We worked closely with the Cal Athletics Department to create a facility where they can realize their High Performance Initiative: a program that provides a systematic, multidisciplinary approach to training athletes for optimal physiological and psychological health, personal development, and high performance.