Roaming Pavilion Grove

UC Berkeley MAAD 2025 Fall Form and Structure

Team Work

Modular Timber Pavilion

Site: Lower Sproul Plaza, UC Berkeley, California

Area: 13824ft²

2025.11-2025.12

The project aims to respond to real socio-cultural issues by creating a “roof”—a roof structure that plays an invisible or explicit role in everyday public life, or more simply, a place that offers shelter from wind and rain.

We analyzed Lower Sproul Plaza on the University of California, Berkeley campus, located beside Sather Gate at the south entrance. Open to the public and adjacent to a major circulation route, the plaza is framed by the Zellerbach Hall and nearby student activity buildings. It hosts a large daily flow of people and a wide range of events—including commencement ceremonies, student organization fairs, and even sports gatherings, political protests, and election-related activities.

Despite being such a significant social space, it lacks structures that provide weather protection or shade, making events highly dependent on weather conditions. Since the university’s facility investment priorities have not adequately addressed this site, we decided to design a movable shading module that can be assembled or dispersed into different clusters, adapting to social activities at various scales and offering people a form of everyday shelter.

Through a rational site-based zoning strategy and form-finding in Grasshopper 3D using Kangaroo Physics, together with structural simulation in Karamba3D, we developed, constructed, and optimized a movable timber pavilion module—seeking to maximize usable space while strengthening and refining its structural performance, formal expression, and operational flexibility.

Concept and Form Sketches

We aimed to create a generous covered “in-between” zone, supported by a movable (as compact as possible) structural base. In our form studies, a lifted segment of a non-stacked cantilever structure can provide a large activity area while accommodating spaces at different scales, thus generating a diverse set of functional zones.

Site Modular Zoning and Activity Analysis

In response to the characteristics of the west façade and the buildings to the north, the plaza was organized using the roof module of the northern building as a reference: a 24 ft × 24 ft square grid. Based on this, Lower Sproul Plaza was subdivided into a 4 × 6 layout, so they can support events of different scales and formats.

Plan

The timber pavilion module is supported by a single central CLT grid column. Its cantilevered eaves create a sheltered “in-between” area that is larger than the footprint of the base, providing cover for large-scale activities within a tall, open space while also meeting accessibility needs.

Form Finding

Structural form-finding was developed in Grasshopper with the Kangaroo plugin, including minimal surface simulation and structural line extraction.

Structural Iterations and Comparisons

Structural analysis was conducted using Karamba3D. By comparing performance changes associated with adding or removing different structural members, the most efficient structural configuration was determined.

Internal Tension Cables
The internal tension cables use a plate-type connection node, where specially customized steel plates simultaneously connect the primary beams, secondary beams, and the cables. The cables are formed by combining two 1/8” steel wires into a 1/4” cable, enhancing the internal stiffness of the structural system.

Base Connection — Internal Tension Cables
The internal tension cables use a plate-type connection node, where specially customized steel plates simultaneously connect the primary beams, secondary beams, and the cables. The cables are formed by combining two 1/8” steel wires into a 1/4” cable, enhancing the internal stiffness of the structural system.