Introduction
Embarking on the largest revitalization project in the history
of the University, UCSF has joined forces with Catellus Development
Corporation and the city of San Francisco to construct a new
43-acre campus. Located in the Mission Bay development, the
new campus will be used to facilitate research into areas as
diverse as AIDS, birth defects, Alzheimer's, and biotechnology.
Upon completion, UCSF Mission Bay will include research, instruction,
academic, and administration spaces.
The first phase of the project, funded with $210 million in
private donations, included the construction of Genentech Hall,
a facility dedicated to research in chemical, molecular and
cell biology. UCSF researchers will devote themselves to exploring
everything from brain development to the genetic rules governing
human behavior. Rutherford & Chekene was the structural
and geotechnical engineer for this project. We also provided
engineering services for the
J. David Gladstone Institutes, the first private research institution
to locate in the Mission Bay development, the Institute for
Quantitative Biomedical Research (QB3), the Neuroscience Building
19A and will be providing structural engineering for the new
$1 billion hospital to be designed on the campus.
History
By the late 1990s, UCSF's Parnassus Street campus was so congested
that plans were made to construct an ancillary campus. Banking
on the power of the new UCSF campus to enhance the prestige
of the city, Catellus Development Corporation and San Francisco
donated a 43-acre plot of land for the project. Their goal is
that UCSF Mission Bay will become a world center of health sciences
learning and research.
Design Challenges
Prior to R&C's involvement in the project, two unaffiliated
soils experts were commissioned to make recommendations regarding
the piles supporting Genentech Hall. The reports generated by
the consultants contradicted one another. With the help of in-house
geotechnical advisors, R&C’s design team helped to
develop a specific testing program to determine which of the
two plans was appropriate, ultimately saving the owner over
$1 million.
The Team
Structural & Geotechnical Engineer: Rutherford & Chekene
Architect: SmithGroup, Zimmer Gunsul Frasca, Bohlin Cywinski
Jackson, Studios Architecture, Anshen+Allen
Contractor: Clark Construction, Rudolph & Sletten
Owner/Client: UCSF
Awards & Citations
See the UCSF website at www.ucsf.edu
to obtain copies of articles regarding the new UCSF campus.
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