ZFA worked alongside Rangr Studio for the Berkeley Chess School (BCS) renovation, which incorporated an enormous chess board into the new foyer—a 16-foot-by-16-foot glass entry wall composed of 64 square panels of alternating black and white glass. It serves as a key design element as students and visitors enter the nonprofit school, which has occupied the building since 2017.
The project, which was funded by donations, involved removing the existing entry stairway and covered access to the basement and constructing a new self-supporting entryway that includes the chess wall, a classroom, and a lobby with an ADA lift to the existing tournament room. The structural design consists of a wood roof and floor framing and load-bearing wood shear walls over conventional shallow footings.
Founded in 1981 by Elizabeth Shaughnessy, the 1970 Irish Women’s Chess Champion, BCS teaches 7,000 children a year. The goal of the school is to empower children by teaching them to play chess, and it has produced three grandmasters. BCS offers free after school programs, low-cost summer camps, and Friday night classes for kids throughout the year. The nonprofit is currently raising funds for Phase II, which is in design and will convert basement space into three additional classrooms.