The Faculty Glade is a defining interface on the UC Berkeley campus—one that showcases the urban wild conditions that makes the campus unique.

A legacy green space, the Faculty Glade lies in a transitional landscape nestled between borrowed views of redwoods and the lush oak woodland along the riparian edge. The pedestrian bridge project sought to strengthen a key North-South campus connection by creating a universally accessible pedestrian crossing of Faculty Glade and Strawberry Creek to the Campanile.

With the potential to not only reinforce and expand social connections on campus but also enhance the existing resilient riparian ecology of Strawberry Creek, Aidlin Darling and Surfacedesign’s solution to the design brief was ultimately a grading strategy that would make the entire path system around the Faculty Glade universally accessible. The architects and landscape architects worked with design engineers Tipping to conduct a feasibility study of their minimally invasive approach to the pedestrian bridge brief. Working in collaboration with UC Berkeley stakeholders in a condensed design effort, the team was able to deliver a proof of concept of this ecologically sensitive and cost effective approach to the Faculty Glade, improving campus accessibility and preserving this culturally important resource.

Explorations of the bridge as a platform as well as a connector considered its relationship to the tree canopy and the creek. The design team saw the project as an opportunity to enhance the experience of the surrounding landscape and its seasonal flows — from the unfurling spring leaves of the Aesculus californica tree that anchors the glade, to the scent of California Bay and Tan Bark oaks along the creek in the summer months, to the grand oaks that provide shade and a sense of enclosure along the glade. Throughout the design process, the “bridge” project was not only a challenge in expanding campus accessibility, but a means to integrate the surrounding landscape into a path that connects a confluence of moments, weaving the gentle openness of the glade with the ecology of Strawberry Creek to create access, to wander, to contemplate, and to gather.

Location: Berkeley, CA

Status: Feasibility Study Completed 2026

Project Type: Campus, Accessibility

Client: UC Berkeley

Collaborators: Aidlin Darling Design, Tipping

Imagery: Surfacedesign, Inc.