xučyun ruwway (UC Berkeley Albany Village Graduate Student Housing)
The Albany Village Graduate Student Apartment, which will be named xučyun ruwway to honor the Indigenous Chochenyo Ohlone people, will create 761 apartment-style units for UC Berkeley’s graduate students, with amenities including over 55,000 square feet of green spaces with lawns, picnic areas, and gardens. This development will span across five interconnected six-story buildings, and as the final phase of the University Village Master Plan in Albany, it will triple the amount of UC Berkeley housing for graduate students.
Site Square Footage: 326,588 gross sq. ft.
Date Completed: Anticipated August 2024
Client: American Campus Communities
Architect: Ayers Saint Gross
Structural Engineer: PK Associates
Civil Engineer: BKF Engineers
General Contractor: James E. Roberts-Obayashi Corporation
Rockridge Geotechnical (RG) performed a geotechnical investigation, provided consultation during design, and provided geotechnical services during the construction of the Albany Graduate Student Housing complex. The residential structure is comprised of five interconnected six-story buildings constructed at-grade, with all on-site parking coming from surface lots. This project was successfully reviewed by the UC Berkeley Seismic Review Committee (SRC) and a third-party peer reviewer.
The primary geotechnical issues affecting the proposed development included: the presence of highly expansive near-surface clay and providing adequate foundation support for the proposed building during static and seismic loading conditions. RG provided recommendations for the buildings to be supported on either deepened spread footings with a conventional concrete slab-on-grade floor.
RG provided geotechnical observation, testing, and consultation services during construction.