Yuexing Global City

Pioneering a new generation of high-rise building in Berkeley, California, JRDV has designed an iconic new mixed-use tower that combines retail, hotel, conference center, and residences.

The building is designed to be a major contributor to Berkeley’s downtown culture, activity, and urban identity. The high-rise tower’s innovative design strategy at the base of the building scales the building to the historic fabric of downtown Berkeley and creates a more dynamic pedestrian context. The architecture is both modern and rooted in a memory of Berkeley’s unique historic buildings. The residential units at the top of the tower have unprecedented regional views and are set back to create a large private outdoor terrace that will create a new standard for high-density urban living.

The building is designed to be LEED Gold and will have sustainable environmental design features that showcase energy and water conservation. The architecture is designed to have a clear environmental vision that is expressed and integrated into every aspect of the design.

After the success in master planning the West Oakland area, JRDV had been selected to lead the design of the BART Station Area sites. This plan is immediately adjacent to the BART station. Its focus is to create a visionary, transit connected, urban TOD community at the gateway to Oakland’s emerging vibrant West Oakland urban culture. Transit connections to BART have been improved to create a true intermodal transit and pedestrian-centered urban center.

Located at the closest transit stop to downtown San Francisco – at the center of the Bay Area public transportation network – West Oakland Station offers a bold new paradigm for Live-Work-Shop-Play environments. The design uses an innovation approach to bridge the BART tracks to form a 1.1M SF new creative workplace, 200 units of housing, and 75,000 SF of cultural arts and retail program. The new TOD community is designed to create a cultural and tech hub which will become the center of the community. The plan is designed around a strategy to recruit and retain a new tech workforce destination for Oakland.

The expansive site has multiple buildings with uses that will both complement and activate the site to help reach its true potential. The poplar building is a new co-working space that celebrate the warehouses’s aesthetic, while making sure to facility is able to accommodate technology and encourage creativity for its users. The Pacific Pipe Building will transform from a vacant hazard into a one of a kind touchstone climbing gym. 1960 Mandela, formerly American steel, is a space artists and manufacturers have known for decades because of its flexibility. The space will continue that tradition while bringing more light into a central corridor and finding positive uses for underutilized spa

The future opportunities on this site are exciting. Siting on a prominent transportation corridor, this site, is perfectly possitioned to attract attention. Harnessing growth and change in a way that will ensure the building responds to its community and environment will produce a space that everyone can be proud of. Innovations can be include in both the building materials and systems uses, as well as the way that the space is engaged and transforms over time. The site has potential for a brewery, open space for farmers markets, and enough warehouse space for a variety and uses and tenants. 1960 Mandela is a project that will help set a precedent for responsible change in west Oakland that