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Design memo of 300 to 500 words: what you read in the site, the three strategies, what the
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The site: 2201 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley
The site sits on the southeast corner of Shattuck Avenue and Allston Way in downtown Berkeley (26,933 ft²). Shattuck is the district's busiest street, featuring a BART entrance opposite and UC Berkeley one block east. Tall buildings flank the east and south, while low restaurants sit along the southern edge. This creates high foot traffic for ground-floor retail and community use, but leaves a loud west edge that bedrooms should avoid.
Three strategies
- A, Stepped housing block with detached commercial building and open plaza: Five stories face Allston with 7 stories behind. The plaza opens to Shattuck, driving foot traffic and community gathering.
- B, Arch-like tower: Residential units form an arch holding a shaded courtyard below, opening onto a Shattuck-facing retail and commercial plaza.
- C, C-shaped bar: A 7-story east spine and two 5-story arms wrap a courtyard opening to Shattuck.
Analysis
- Floor area: A delivers 104,109 ft² GFA, B 104,933 ft², and C 102,800 ft², all meeting the 100,000 ± 10% ft² target.
- Sun and daylight: The plaza receives 8–9 hours of direct sunlight in all scenarios with no summer overshadowing. All sides of proposal A’s buildings receive adequate daylight scores (>25). The inner courtyards of B and C are problematic, with corners dropping below 15 and most spaces sitting between 15 and 27.
- Noise, wind, and microclimate: Shattuck facades experience 70 dB of noise in B and C, but A's retail and tree placement reduces this to 60 dB. Plaza wind is 4 m/s along Shattuck; A's design minimizes the area experiencing >3 m/s speeds. The street-side microclimate is hotter (>60°F) than the southeast plaza corner (47–55°F) and the B/C courtyards.
- Carbon: Embodied carbon is 13 kgCO₂e/ft² for A, and 16 for B and C.
RecommendationI recommend A. It places the required cafe and community space on Shattuck, securing cooler temperatures and less noise than B or C. Because its 7-story height applies only to the spine, A carries less embodied carbon than B's full-height tower (13 vs 16 kgCO₂e/ft²). A eliminates the low-daylight corners found in B and C. Its housing sits against the tall east neighbor, but the upper floors clear its roof to see open sky. Meanwhile, B sets its commercial space back 75 ft from the street. C comes close, but its courtyard receives low winter sunlight and the plaza lacks element protection.
The surpriseI initially expected proposal C to be the best option. A courtyard and plaza wrapped by two arms felt like the strongest public space concept. However, December 21 solar analysis revealed its orientation blocks almost all direct sunlight, leaving the courtyard with under 2 hours of sun. The shape that looked best on paper failed site constraints, but proposal A’s strong performance makes me excited to move forward with that concept.
Three massing images, one per proposal, from the same viewpoint.
