It’s hard to imagine the impressive Undergraduate Academic Building that will emerge at UC Berkeley by early 2026, but walk past the Dwinelle Parking Lot this month and you’ll see initial work already underway to transform the site into a vibrant new hub for instruction and student support services.
Fencing is now up to keep campus and construction activities safely separate and to protect a grove of mature trees on the site. While many trees there will be preserved, any tree removed will be replaced by at least three new ones. Daily, flaggers will be escorting construction vehicles and equipment in and out of this central campus location.
The new building will house 27 classrooms, Letters and Science Advising and a state-of-the-art, 400-seat auditorium with a lush rooftop terrace overlooking Strawberry Creek. It also will be the first building the campus constructs with mass timber, or engineered wood. Mass timber is a cutting-edge, lighter, safer and more energy-efficient alternative to traditional concrete and steel construction.