IN THE NEWS: December 13, 2010
Bruce DeMartini
Equity Community Builders
415-561-6200
bruce@ecbsf.com
Berkeley’s Ed Roberts Campus has access for all
Berkeley, CA: ECB was the Development Manager and Real Estate Advisor for the Ed Roberts Campus, built through a collaboration of disabilities rights organizations that united to develop this 80,000 square-foot national center for independent living in Berkeley.
In his article in SFGATE, John King points out the architect’s attention to what is called “universal design.” “Design is about everything, not just how things look,” says William Leddy of Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects (LMS), the project architect. King credits LMS with creating a building accessible to all, but particularly with incorporating other enticing design elements that speak to the disability rights movement.
Ben Golvin, ECB Principal who served as the project manager, notes that “We all – all the members of the design/development/construction team – learned so much from the directors and staff of the seven organizations for whom we designed and built. Their engagement – over 15 years, start to finish – was critical to ensuring that the building serves the needs of clients and staff with a wide range of abilities.”
The project, which honors disabilities rights pioneer Ed Roberts, serves as a national model of universal design, environmental sustainability and non-profit collaboration.
For two decades ECB has demonstrated its commitment to responsibly developing buildings and creating great places that contribute to the vitality of neighborhoods and help strengthen communities. We aim to provide affordable housing at all points on the income spectrum; to apply adaptive re-use strategies of historic structures; and to develop centers for non-profit innovation.