Our Spaces

Bauer Wurster Hall was designed by Vernon DeMars, Joseph Esherick, and Donald Olsen in 1946. Famed for its use of raw concrete, the building is an ideal place for experimentation: the architects aimed to design a “finished-unfinished” building to encourage students to define their own spatial experiences and modes of self-expression. CED students spend most of their time in Bauer Wurster Hall’s classrooms, tower studio spaces, library, fabrication shops, computer labs, and outdoor spaces.

Spanning 3,600 square feet of open-plan, industrial workspace, CED’s Fabrication Shop is a catalyst for innovation. With high ceilings and natural light, as a student you’ll bridge the gap between digital modeling and material process. From cutting and milling lumber, to bending and welding metal, students experiment with new building methods and materials, translating studio concepts into tangible projects. With advanced casting machinery, an expansive outdoor shop yard, and a walk-in spray booth.

CED’s Digital Fabrication Lab is a dynamic, 1,500-square-foot environment dedicated to advanced manufacturing and material exploration. As a student, you’ll have access to the latest 3D printing technology, develop hands-on fabrication skills, and collaborate directly with professional staff. Whether scaling up architectural details on the ShopSabre CNC, prototyping organic forms across our fleet of 3D printers, or executing component patterns via our laser and Zünd cutting systems, the lab is a supportive and collaborative space for actualizing your work.

Six floors of open design studios, bathed in natural light, are located in Bauer Wurster Hall’s landmark tower. All students taking a studio course are assigned a workspace that becomes their home away from home. Alive with creativity 24 hours a day, studios foster community and collaboration. Studio floors are equipped with computers, laser printers, wide-format inkjet plotters, and flatbed scanners.

Blake Garden is the landscape laboratory for the Department of Landscape Architecture & Environmental Planning. It occupies 10+ acres of rolling terrain in Kensington, featuring large rock outcroppings, several reaches of Cerrito Creek, and sweeping views of the San Francisco Bay. Here you’ll find numerous projects designed and built by Berkeley faculty, staff, and students, including a pergola by landscape architect Garrett Eckbo, the Square Garden with flowering magnolias, and a native pollinator garden.

Open to all — students, faculty, scholars, designers, preservationists, and the public — the Environmental Design Archives is Northern California’s premier collection of historical records related to architecture and landscape architecture. Its holdings span more than a century and include drawings, reports, specifications, correspondence, photographs, models, and artifacts.

The light-filled Environmental Design Library is one of the premier architecture, landscape architecture, and city planning libraries in North America. As a CED student, you can explore a collection of more than 210,000 volumes and 500 serials, reserve a group study room, and discover unique treasures in the Sigrid L. Rupp Rare Book Vault. You’ll also find a rotating series of exhibitions in the library, often featuring one-of-a-kind materials from the Environmental Design Archives.

Students have 24/7 access to two advanced computer labs in Bauer Wurster Hall. Equipped with over 80 desktops, these labs feature industry-standard software from Adobe and Autodesk, cloud rendering via the Render Farm (Rhino + V-Ray), laser printers, flatbed scanners, and wide-format inkjet plotters.

The Student Technology Center is your one-stop-shop for CED-specific tech services and support. Located in Bauer Wurster Hall’s South Tower, it also houses a self-serve photo-quality wide-format inkjet printer and wide-format sheet-feed scanner.

The nonprofit Materials Store provides access to premium materials at reasonable costs. The store stocks wood, plastic, paper, metal, blades, and router bits, as well as CED-branded mugs, water bottles, and more. Located at the entry of the Fabrication Shop, it provides convenient access to hand-picked materials that can be used in both the Fabrication Shop and the Digital Fabrication Lab.

The CED community often gathers in Ong+Ong Plaza in front of the main entrance to Bauer Wurster Hall. With benches and tables, it is a great place to have coffee and eat lunch, meet with faculty, or connect with other students under the dappled shade of coast live oak trees.

The serene, sunny courtyard behind Bauer Wurster Hall often hosts activities sponsored by student clubs as well as other CED events. Its brick paving is an homage to the courtyard of North Hall (the “Ark”), the original home of the Department of Architecture before the construction of Bauer Wurster Hall.

The first floor lobby is a dynamic space for CED students. Each semester graduate and undergraduate students in studio participate in pin-ups, utilizing a variety of movable walls and display spaces.

Bauer Wurster Gallery is a dynamic space hosting exhibitions, talks, studio and course reviews and pin-ups, and symposia.

Bauer Wurster Auditorium serves as a vibrant hub for academic and public discourse. It hosts daily classes, major public events and panels, and academic symposia. It is also home to the College of Environmental Design’s signature public programming — including fall and spring lecture series — bringing together visionary architects, landscape architects, urbanists, designers, planners, and professionals from around the world.