Water Resources Collections and Archives

Opportunities to design open space around urban creeks are uncommon due to the constraints of urban infrastructure. When space becomes available, new designs have the chance to treat the creek as an amenity for communities. One such opportunity is the new development possibility occasioned by removal of World War II-era housing along Codornices Creek, within the married student housing complex known as 'UC Village' in Albany, California. The site, along San Pablo Avenue adjacent to Codornices Creek, is owned by the University of California at Berkeley. The developer's design called for a Whole Foods Market and parking structure. It, however, suggested building a two-story garage up to the fence line and did not create a meaningful connection between the Whole Foods Market and Codornices Creek. If built, the community will lose a rare opportunity to have open space near the creek. Our re-design focuses on the creek and the possible experiences that revolve around it. By relocating the Whole Foods Market and parking structure, it is possible to create an outdoor food court that overlooks the creek and that also accommodates the 100-year floodplain. The provision of personal space attracts users down toward the creek while the installation of step pools at the San Pablo culvert allow for steelhead trout to migrate upstream. The removal of the culvert at 10th Street reduces the risk of flooding and the re-design of two nodes encourages walkability of the new development.