The proposal

Berkeley first

A university town with BART, real commercial corridors, a downtown zoned for mid-rise, and a political appetite for housing. Also: expensive land and neighbors who fight height. A fair first test.

Where it fits — in rough legal terms

A summary of public zoning documents, not legal advice

Downtown C-DMU

Berkeley's downtown mixed-use zoning already contemplates mid-rise mixed use — commonly in the ~50–75 ft range, with limited taller exceptions. That is the 5–7 story band. The type is closest to legal here.

The corridors

University, San Pablo, Telegraph, Shattuck, Fourth: the natural street-wall locations, already commercial at the ground floor, already on frequent transit.

West Berkeley

The warehouses are tempting for Sargfabrik-style reuse, but MU-R height limits are much lower (~3 stories). Treat reuse there as a shorter cousin unless a variance or upzone exists.

Middle Housing reforms

Recent reforms help courtyard apartments in residential fabric — genuinely useful, but usually at a smaller scale than the European block. This proposal is honest about that gap.

The Berkeley prototype brief

Specification · draft 01

Site On or just off a commercial street
Height 5–7 stories, street wall at the sidewalk
Ground floor Shops, 15–18 ft ceilings
Courtyard ~40–80 ft across — not a light well
Access Single-loaded galleries on the courtyard
Common Kitchen opening onto the Hof; guest rooms, laundry, workshop
Roof Greenhouse + play + long table + PV
Homes 25–60 on a first lot; ~80–100 if Kalkbreite-large
Parking Underground or off-site — never in the courtyard
Tenure Limited-equity co-op and/or community land trust
Retail leases Member and neighborhood businesses
Method New build, reuse, or recode — new courtyard block is the ideal

Three ways to start

Every drawing below is illustrative — a diagram of a method, not a real site.

Scenario 1

New block on a corridor

University, San Pablo, Telegraph, Shattuck, or downtown proper. A deep lot or an assembled pair, built to the sidewalk with shops below and a real Hof behind. The full brief — La Borda's section on a Berkeley corridor. Slowest and most expensive; also the truest.

BUS · CORRIDOR SHOPS + 5–7 STORIES NEW HOF EXISTING NEIGHBOR ILLUSTRATIVE

Scenario 2

Warehouse or market reuse

The Sargfabrik and Swan's Market method: buy a big roof in West Berkeley or a deep commercial parcel, carve courtyards out of it, wrap homes around them. Honest caveat: West Berkeley's MU-R zoning tops out much lower (~3 stories), so reuse there is a shorter cousin of the brief unless a rezone or variance opens the band.

HOMES IN THE SHED ROOF REMOVED → HOF WORKSHOPS KEPT ILLUSTRATIVE

Scenario 3

Recode an existing apartment house

Buy a tired walk-up. Make the backyard a real Hof — dig out the parking, plant it, put the long table in. Turn a ground-floor unit into the common kitchen; a storage room into the workshop. Smaller and not seven stories, but a co-op can do it in two years, and it teaches the group everything the big version needs.

EXISTING WALK-UP COMMON KITCHEN PARKING OUT, HOF IN LONG TABLE ILLUSTRATIVE

The first year — before any land

01

Gather 8–15 committed households. Not more; not a mailing list — households.

02

Write the charter: money, exit, kids, cars, conflict, commerce. The hard conversations before the expensive ones.

03

Join or form the wrapper: a community land trust or an existing trust, plus a development co-op.

04

Walk every mixed-use parcel on the corridors. Map the deep lots, the tired walk-ups, the big roofs. Talk to owners before brokers.

05

Commission the feasibility test on the best three candidates — and only then talk about buying anything.

Rule one, borrowed from every successful Baugruppe: do not buy land first.

Then

One building, two, three, a block →

Practically

Tenure, money, code, first steps →