Features

UC Berkeley plans a major overhaul of landmarked Bowles Hall, and they’re looking for an architect to show how to do it. 

The search marks the end of a controversial plan to convert the massive 1928 concrete edifice into posh quarters for corporate executives attending seminars at the Haas School of Business. 

The collapse of that project has paved the way for a more modest proposal to renovate the hall for its traditional use as a male-only residential hall. 

Retired IBM Bob Sayles, who has been leading the drive to preserve the hall for students, said he’s pleased with the news. 

Announcement of the Haas plans had triggered a powerful backlash from dedicated “Bowlesmen,” who launched a campaign to preserve the venerable building as student quarters. 

Sayles, president of the Bowles Hall Alumni Association, has been joined by 300 dues-paying alumni in an ongoing effort to restore the hall to its former glory. 

Joining them in their worries was Berkeley Planning Director Dan Marks, who had called the project “really distressing,” especially when considered along with other major projects planned at and near UC Memorial Stadium. It is those other projects the city and a group of other plaintiffs are challenging in a Hayward court. 

Among the alumni Sayles recruited is former U.S. Rep. Robert Matsui, whose successor in Congress was Tom Campbell, dean of the Haas School of Business—the architect of the executive education proposal. 

The Campbell plan called for transformation of the hall into 70 suites, with construction of a nearby semi-subterranean suite of meeting rooms. 

The new facilities were to include “state of the art instructional and conference spaces for up to 300 participants in residential and nonresidential programs,” along with “up to 100 guest rooms; and requisite support facilities.” 

Haas abandoned the plan in August, within days of Campbell’s announcement that he was stepping down as dean. 

One potential stumbling block to the business school’s plans was the structure’s proximity to the Hayward Fault—and one map shows a trace of the active fissure running beneath a corner of the building. 

While the university has argued in the current court case challenging other nearby UC Berkeley projects that it’s not bound by a state law that severely limits new buildings and renovations within 50 feet of active faults, that issue remains in question. 

The Alquist-Priolo Act bars new construction and limits renovations and alterations to half of a structure’s value—which might have raised legal issues given the extensive interior gutting called for by the executive education program plans. 

The only case which has tested the Alquist-Priolo involved another UC Berkeley residential property, Foothill Housing. 

The university has issued a new request for qualifications (RFQ) to find a designer to conduct a feasibility study for the overhaul of the venerable “collegiate gothic” structure sited on a stretch of scenic hillside between Memorial Stadium and the Greek Theatre. 

According to the RFQ, “The goals of the renewal are to upgrade student living areas; correct code deficiencies, including accessibility and life safety; increase security; address deferred maintenance issues, including roofing and waterproofing; reduce operating costs; and increase revenue.” 

Bowles was conceived by donor Mary Bowles, Robert Gordon Sproul (later UC President) and George Kelham, chief architect of the 1915 Pan Pacific Exposition in San Francisco, successor to John Galen Howard as architect for the university. 

The 1988 announcement of a proposal to demolish the building motivated then-current and former residents to launch a preservation drive. 

As a result of their effort, the building was declared a City of Berkeley landmark on Oct. 17, 1988, and the structure was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 16, 1989. 

Sayles said the alumni have high hopes that Bowles can be restored to its historic role. He has met with Interim Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Harry Le Grande and said he is planning on more meetings with university officials to discuss the institution’s future.