Campus news
The 14-story building's design is intended to transform the transfer student experience by prioritizing residents' well-being and potential for success.
By Gretchen Kell
July 29, 2024
On Aug. 21, when 772 transfer students step into UC Berkeley’s Anchor House for the first time, they’ll quickly discover the new 14-story building on Oxford Street is no ordinary campus housing. Instead, it’s a home designed just for transfer students, a sizable population at Berkeley with talent, drive — and a unique set of challenges.
More than just bedrooms with desks, the approximately 450,000-square-foot building one block from campus includes an indoor/outdoor fitness center and yoga studio, a maker’s space run by the Berkeley Art Studio, and special places to unwind and watch movies, cook, garden and appreciate Bay Area sunsets with new friends.
What’s more, two new occupants of the ground floor, which has 4,700 square feet of retail and commercial space, will be a second location for the Transfer Student Center and a satellite Cal Student Store.
A reimagining of the student residential experience, Anchor House will provide transfer students — who often face financial, academic and social hurdles — with an anchor of support and a source of well-being and community.
Best of all, Anchor House is entirely a gift, and a most impressive one. It’s from the Helen Diller Foundation and includes the cost of project design, construction and furnishings. And the gift will keep on giving, in perpetuity: Proceeds from the net income of building operations will fund two-year scholarships for an estimated 400 low-income students at Berkeley each year.
“Anchor House is truly exceptional and is the best student housing I’ve ever seen,” said former Chancellor Carol T. Christ, who championed the transformative project. “Every aspect of it is thoughtfully designed with transfer students in mind, right down to the smallest detail.
“Thanks to the generosity of the Helen Diller Foundation, our transfer students will enjoy well-appointed, comfortable rooms, engaging shared spaces and a true sense of community. It is a tremendous pleasure to see the vision for Anchor House become a reality.”
In 2023-24, Berkeley had 6,646 transfer students, 20.7% of the undergraduate population. Recent data show nearly all of Berkeley’s transfer students are from California community colleges, more than 40% are first-generation college-goers who are Pell Grant-eligible, and one-third are from underrepresented groups.
The guiding philosophy for Anchor House is to nourish students’ minds and bodies, to bolster their potential for success and to help them discover healthier ways of living, thinking and eating.
Anchor House, which took 2 1/2 years to construct, has a Northern California design aesthetic: abundant natural light, earthy hues, wood and tile, terraces and balconies with sweeping Bay Area views, and comfortable seating. It’s also LEED Gold certified. Meaningful art objects throughout include large origami bears, paintings of campus and a large print by California artist Wayne Thiebaud.
It was designed by Morris Adjmi Architects, along with locally-based BDE Architecture, with interiors by Brand Bureau and landscape architecture by ACLA.
“Anchor House is a beautiful place, designed to reflect the bounty and beauty of our location in California,” said Chancellor Rich Lyons, “and it honors the donor’s longtime dedication to ensuring that young scholars can flourish.”
The building also contains multiple event spaces for large catered events and workshops, including on the 2nd and 13th floors and in the landscaped central courtyard. Some areas of Anchor House will be open to the campus community —the Rausser College of Natural Resources, for example, will operate a large culinary classroom in the building — and some to the public.
The nearly 800 beds in Anchor House will help alleviate the campus’s housing shortage. A significant percentage of the student body can’t afford to live in or near Berkeley, and many of these students are transfers. Rent at Anchor House will be comparable to that at other campus housing.
“Anchor House is in an especially ideal location, across the street from campus and close to downtown, where shopping is, and it’s easy to get onto main bus lines,” said Ashley Tigue, a Berkeley transfer student who was the ASUC transfer student representative in 2023-2024 and will graduate this December.
Not facing a commute allows more time to study, make friends, participate in student organizations and peruse campus resources.
It’s often challenging for transfer students to fit in with younger undergraduates, to be accepted into competitive student clubs and to “find a sense of community,” said Tigue, a bioengineering major who was on the campus’s three-year Task Force on the Transfer Student Experience. It wrapped up its work and recommendations in May.
In addition to offering an unparalleled residential experience for transfer students, Anchor House also features the campus’s first commuter lounge. Students who travel to campus via public transit can easily walk to Anchor House from downtown Berkeley and access the lounge’s storage lockers, restrooms and seating for approximately 225 people.
“This is an exciting time for Berkeley’s transfer students, and for our community as a whole,” said Lyons. “Transfer students are a vital part of our campus community, and this building reflects how much we value them and want them to thrive, both here and aftergraduation.”
