CSU East Bay CORE Library

Vision

To temporarily accommodate a growing student body, CSU East Bay placed modular classrooms in a long and narrow open space on campus but needed a more permanent solution. A new library was to replace the disparate classrooms and sit strategically between the lower campus recreation center and amenities to the southwest and academic facilities of the upper campus to the northeast. The site’s landscape, however, presented dramatic challenges as it featured bidirectional sloped topography and fire access routes.

The proposed building would need to accommodate for a 40-foot grade differential, maintain fire access to the campus, and permit pedestrian circulation between the east and west sides of the campus. For this project, maintaining and enhancing site connections was imperative. We investigated ways to utilize the site’s dramatic slope to create a unique experiential landscape that stiches the upper and lower campuses together.

The building takes advantage of the site’s available flat area with a long form that extends northwest to southeast. To facilitate campus circulation on the east-west axis, the form is cut diagonally with a stepped exterior spine that physically connects the lower and upper campuses – a three-story difference. This diagonal cut becomes a ceremonial promenade flanked on both sides by the CORE building. Users access the northeast entrance from the upper science plaza via a new pedestrian bridge. The stair spills out to a large open greenspace on the lower campus.