Project Description

Situated on the historic NASA Ames Research Park in California’s Silicon Valley, the Berkeley Space Center accelerates the San Francisco Bay Area’s innovation ecosystem. It catalyzes deeper collaboration and the highest levels of research between academia, industry, and NASA towards transformative discoveries and technologies that create a positive impact on people and the planet. The Master Plan for the Center creates a framework for a restorative and regenerative development at the highest levels of sustainability.

The Illustrative Master Plan for this 36.2-acre research community features 1.4 million square feet of research, academic, and residential space embedded within landscaped plazas, promenades, and open space. Envisioned as part of a broader research and innovation ecosystem, the development serves as the “Center-Point” of activity for the district, facilitating collisions between researchers, engineers, and entrepreneurs. A fabric of landscaped promenades, patios, and gardens converges at the Central Green, enveloped by an array of research and academic buildings. The pedestrian-first, car-free core is the social magnet and meeting point for the district and beyond.

Through a regenerative approach, the Plan holistically integrates the built environment within nature. The development takes full advantage of California’s mild Mediterranean climate through planning decisions driven by sun, wind, and local ecologies. Building performance studies were conducted across the Master Plan to understand and optimize the development’s solar access, quality ventilation, and thermal comfort. Interior daylight, access to views, building energy efficiency, and the potential for renewable energy generation were also explored. This, in turn, shaped the overall building placement, massing, and form and enabled the strategic choreography of urban fabric, site circulation, indoor-outdoor programming, and diverse planting environments that frame this central hub of activity.

The Plan integrates phytoremediation strategies facilitated by native landscaping following the “Miyawaki Method” for urban afforestation. Dense groves of phytoremediation oaks, laurels, and willows and micro-forests will be planted on future building plots to support wildlife, sequester carbon, and provide soil and water enrichment. As the on-site development expands, the trees will be sustainably harvested for timber or relocated on or adjacent to the site.
Furthermore, the Plan aims to enhance the site’s ecosystem performance beyond its native habitat. Through the investigation of existing context, remediation opportunities, open space planning, and master plan design, the Plan analyzed how complimentary ecosystem services—the direct and indirect contributions of native ecologies to human wellbeing—can support the vision of the project. An ecosystem services analysis was conducted to quantify the site’s service functions, including air quality, biodiversity, carbon sequestration, soil quality, water quality and quantity, and health and well-being.

Compared to existing site conditions, the Plan’s sculpted massing and landscape enable its aspirational vision to enhance ecosystem services by 300%. At the same time, the development performs at 67% compared to a native habitat. The ecosystem performance gap could be further closed through design that prioritizes native forests to sequester carbon emitted by the site and fully enrich the soil. The heat generated and water released by the buildings may be recycled to further enhance natural system growth towards regenerative impact.

Overall, the Berkeley Space Center aims to create spaces that enrich communities and renew the earth. Researchers, engineers, and entrepreneurs alike can learn lessons from the site's natural and regenerated environment. The site and its immediate surroundings offer a remarkable opportunity to be a "super-connector" of innovation and steward of the environment.