Anchor House | Berkeley, CA

At 1950 Oxford Street, in the heart of Berkeley, a single urban site held the potential to become a true home base for University of California students. Representatives from UC Berkeley and the Generous Donor's Foundation set out to change that with a new high-rise dormitory for 750 to 800 students.

Fitting that many beds, plus the spaces that make student life work, onto one urban site called for a tightly organized vertical plan. The 14-story Type IA tower wraps a central open-air courtyard beginning at Level 2, with a basement for parking and back-of-house, a ground floor of student lobby, amenity space, offices, retail and loading, and two full amenity levels above. Levels 4 through 14 stack studio, two-bedroom and four-bedroom apartments around a double-loaded corridor. BDE Architecture worked alongside the client team to bring up to 360,000 GSF of program into a single, coherent building.

Completed in 2023, Anchor House gives students 244 apartments, a through-block lobby, nearly 12,000 GSF of landscaped courtyard on Level 2, and an accessible green roof deck, while 13,000 GSF of retail opens the building to the surrounding city.

Address: 1950 Oxford St, Berkeley, CA, 94720

Client: Representatives from UC Berkeley and the Generous Donor’s Foundation

Number of Units: 244

Construction Type: IA

Year Completed: 2023

Photography: Jason O’Rear (2024)

View of a city skyline at dusk with illuminated high-rise buildings and a mountain in the background.
A multi-story modern building with large windows, illuminated from inside, located on a city street during dusk, with trees framing the scene.
A modern urban courtyard with greenery and tall buildings, people sitting and walking, some using electronic devices.
Modern dining room with wooden dining table and chairs, large green built-in cabinets on either side, open shelves with dishes and books, wood flooring, patterned rug, and a contemporary chandelier hanging from a high ceiling with recessed lighting.
Interior of a modern gym with people using treadmills and walking stairs, wooden walls, high ceiling with hanging lights and ceiling fans, fitness center sign, and plants.
Interior of a modern building with a wooden staircase, large windows, and high ceiling with hanging lamps, combining wood, glass, and concrete elements.
A spacious modern lobby with wooden ceiling panels, surrounded by walls in neutral tones, populated by people sitting on couches and working on laptops, with some engaged in conversation.
Interior of a restaurant or dining area with wooden walls, a wooden ceiling with slats, and hanging paper lantern lights. There are tables with wooden chairs on a colorful patterned carpet.
Interior of a modern library or common area with a wooden reception desk, bookshelves, and seating area, with four women engaging in conversation near the seating.
A modern multi-story high-rise building at dusk with many illuminated windows and a rooftop terrace.
People walking and biking in a park with tall trees and a modern office building under a blue sky.
Tall modern building with illuminated windows at dusk, overlooking a cityscape with other buildings and distant mountains in the background.