Cal Neighbors

The campus is currently celebrating several construction milestones of interest both to students and to the neighboring community. The most visible of these projects is student housing that has been under construction on the campus’s south side for the past three years. At Durant and College Avenues, two new residence facilities will be “home” to 450 Berkeley undergraduate students beginning this fall. Nearby, the Katherine A. Towle Residence Hall (on Haste Street below College Avenue) and Yoritada Wada Apartments (on Dwight Way below College Avenue) were dedicated at the end of March. F or more details online, visit www.housing.berkeley.edu/livingatcal

Book lovers will be pleased to know that Doe Library’s grand North Reading Room is open for business again after an extensive renovation. With funding from campus donors, the room has been restored to match its original 1910 Beaux Arts splendor. The newly refurbished room boasts a new floor, fresh paint, new window treatments, refurbished historic tables and chairs, and new lighting designed to echo the original table lamps. For photos and library hours, see lib.berkeley.edu/doemoff/renovation_doe.html

Located at the campus’s east gate, this new building will be a center for interdisciplinary science research and teaching and the hub of two important research efforts — the Health Sciences Initiative and the interdisciplinary Institute for Quantitative Biomedical Research (QB3). The latter is one of the state’s four California Institutes for Science and Innovation, where researchers will seek innovative solutions to urgent biomedical problems. The building’s steel frame is complete and installation of the exterior skin is under way.

The new eight-story facility is due to open in early 2006.

Monthly project updates (including photos) are online at www.cp.berkeley.edu/StanleyFacility. html

A state-of-the-art headquarters for the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS) — another of the California Institutes for Science and Innovation — will soon replace Davis Hall North, an old, recently demolished building located on campus near the intersection of Hearst and LeRoy Avenues.

CITRIS research will focus on a wide range of innovations in energy, transportation, environmental monitoring, seismic safety, education, health care, and other fields. The new building — with two floors underground and five floors aboveground — will house teaching and research facilities, a center for distance learning, and a nanofabrication lab.

Work to build the foundation of the new building is scheduled to continue through the summer, and construction is expected to continue through 2007.

Street parking adjacent to the construction site (the south side of Hearst Avenue from Euclid to LeRoy Avenues) will be unavailable for the duration of construction. Hourly paid parking will continue to be available at existing metered spaces in the area and on Level 2 of the Lower Hearst parking structure (no UC permit needed), located at Hearst and Scenic Avenues.

Construction updates are available online at www.cp.berkeley.edu/CITRISDavis.html

Pedestrian safety around campus construction sites is very important. The public is urged to use the sidewalks and designated paths only, not the street next to construction fencing.

Work hours for campus construction projects are 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekends and holidays, in accordance with the City of Berkeley noise ordinance.

All projects will adhere to regulations concerning safety, dust, dirt, exhaust fumes, and storm-water runoff.