Library Buildings around the World

Financial District. Along with ongoing tenant improvements to fill out remaining space at 40 Jessie Street, the most recently
completed work at GGU is the renovation of the sixth floor at 536 Mission. Existing classrooms were converted into an
executive conference center and include new finishes, lighting, furniture and a state-of-the-art audio visual system that will
allow events to be captured digitally and posted online. The President’s offices, adjacent to the new conference center, were
also renovated as part of the work. Upcoming projects include the design of a Litigation Center for the Law School, which
will include a suite of Moot Courtrooms, Practice rooms, and conference rooms for use in litigation instruction and Moot
Court competitions. Future renovation of remaining existing classrooms and faculty office spaces are also planned.
Secure in its future in the San Francisco Financial District, Golden Gate University (GGU) is expanding its law library and
renovating its facilities to meet the long-term needs of its students. GGU called upon Ratcliff, the architectural, planning and
interiors firm, to update its ten-year facilities master plan that incorporates 328,220 square feet of both existing and new campus
area. The resulting master plan solution provides a new, more inviting identity for the campus at street level and successfully
accommodates all schools and departments within the existing campus locations of 536 Mission Street and 40 Jessie Street. "Golden
Gate University is committed to being an adult-centered, urban university and this master plan provides the campus with the
facilities to meet future facility demands for its students," says Jeff Bialik, GGU's vice president of operations and CFO. "Because
Ratcliff engaged participants from every level of the university in an interactive collaborative process, the plan is enjoying a high
level of support from the entire campus." While GGU embarked on the master planning process as a result of the sale of its 62 First
Street property and anticipated relocation of the departments therein, the need to expand and improve GGU's Law School Library
soon emerged as the key driver of the revised master plan. GGU's expanded Law School Library will occupy three floors in the 536
Mission Street building and will include seating for 400, shelf space for a collection of 175,000 paper volumes, computer lab stations
for 60, and office space for 20. The new campus entry and front door presence of the Law School Library is viewed by the university
as essential for serving the academic support needs of its law students. Overall, the GGU Master Plan consists of ten phases spread
over a fourteen-year span, of which the first three phases were completed in 2002. The remaining seven phases, which are the focus
of the revised plan that was approved in March 2004, are slated for completion in 2014. They include a two-story addition to a
university-owned warehouse building at 40 Jessie Street that formerly housed Swallow Printing. This addition will allow GGU to
completely absorb the departments displaced from the university's sale of the 62 First Street building by August 2008, as well as
from the expansion of the law school library. Specific elements of the plan will evolve over time as the design process is completed
for each phase. Founded in 1901 in San Francisco, Golden Gate University is California's fifth largest private university. GGU meets
the needs of working adults by offering undergraduate and graduate programs in business and management, information
technology, taxation, and law. GGU is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. The School of Law is also
accredited by the American Bar Association, the State Bar of California and the Association of American Law Schools.
Headquartered in Emeryville, California, Ratcliff is a third-generation architectural, planning and interiors firm. Ratcliff's current
higher education clients include the University of California, Berkeley, Vista Community College in Berkeley, California, and Saint
Mary's College in Moraga, California. With a staff of 65 design professionals, Ratcliff offers a broad range of services for health
care, higher education, and housing/hospitality clients throughout the Western United States. (http://www.prnewwire.com)
University of California, Berkeley School of Law, South Addition, Berkeley CA – USA 2011
UC Berkeley School of Law broke ground on an innovative South Pavilion Addition last month (November, 10, 2008), a 52,000square-foot
library and academic building that will accommodate the top-tier law school’s programmatic growth. Architect of the
project is RATCLIFF, of Emeryville, CA, who achieved the substantial building size within a modest footprint by placing two of the
three building levels below ground. The building site is the law school’s former courtyard and construction will occur over the next
two and a half years. The project is anticipated to achieve LEED® Gold certification.
At the same time, the existing Berkeley Law facility will undergo renovation to provide new “smart technology” classrooms,
seminar/teaching facilities, and expanded space for student activities.
In the past four years, Berkeley Law (www.law.berkeley.edu) has expanded its faculty by 25 percent, added a number of new
research centers, and planned for continued expansion. Through a series of phased renovations and the new addition, RATCLIFF
(www.ratcliffarch.com) is assisting the law school to meet the demands of a new generation of students, including access to cuttingedge
technology. By January 2009, the existing Boalt Hall building will include a new state-of-the-art distance learning center, newly
renovated classrooms including a moot courtroom, student organizations and law journal offices, and new faculty offices.
“We are excited about the new addition that RATCLIFF has designed for us and also pleased with their creative renovations of our
existing building,” said Kathleen Vanden Heuvel, Associate Dean for Capital Projects, director of the Law Library, and adjunct
professor at UC Berkeley School of Law. “Our students and faculty are going to benefit greatly from having better equipped
classrooms, more space for interaction and study, and well designed offices."
The new addition will house highly efficient library stack space and a combination of reading rooms, seminar spaces, computer labs,
library staff offices, and collection services in the two light-filled underground levels. Large skylights and open stairways will
introduce an inviting environment in the above-grade level, complete with a large classroom flanked by a café that will provide an
interactive gathering and study space for students. A second level roof-deck garden above the South Pavilion Addition will provide
plenty of outdoor seating with a connection to the library’s main reading room and a footbridge to the Steinhart Courtyard. The
newly landscaped east and west entryway courtyards will create a vibrant transition from the complex to Bancroft Way.
A key component of Berkeley Law’s master plan is the relocation of the existing library collections out of the central stack area in
Boalt Hall into the lower level of the courtyard addition. This will improve the circulation and flow of the building’s existing levels 4,
5 and 6, which are interrupted by the isolated central stack core. A future phase would convert the existing stack area into clinic and
research space. The renovation and construction projects will include improved site circulation and wheelchair accessibility
improvements throughout the school and a new outdoor plaza on the western edge of the law school. RATCLIFF has teamed with
Lynn Simon & Associates to help meet a goal of LEED Gold certification for the new structure. They will integrate sustainable
features into many aspects of the design, including:
A green roof to provide a vibrant open space for students, faculty and staff; detain and clean storm water; and insulate the spaces
underneath.
Low-flow faucets and toilets that will use 40% less fresh water (as compared to the standards of the Energy Policy Act of 1992).
Efficient lighting and heating, ventilating and air conditioning systems that will use 30% less energy than the California energy code
allows.
Wood that will be certified as sustainably harvested by the Forest Stewardship Council - the most protective forest certification
program in the country.
Healthy indoor air quality through increased ventilation strategies, advanced filtration, and the use of low-emitting materials
including paints and carpets.
“We are excited to assist Berkeley Law in meeting its strategic goals,” says Joseph Nicola, director of RATCLIFF's academic
practice. “In partnership with the university, we are creating the law school of the future, complete with the latest instructional
technology and a design that improves the educational experience for students and faculty alike.” (Ratcliff)
The 55,000 square foot addition to the UC-Berkeley Law Library appears like an open and transparent one-story pavilion from the
street, but it has a huge impact on the law library as well as the law school. That’s because 44,000 square feet of library and
connections to other parts of the law school are below ground. The 11,000 square feet above ground provide the perfect segue to the
pedestrian scale of the streetscape.
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