Old on the outside, new on the inside, Berkeley’s California Memorial Stadium still resembles the Roman Colosseum while offering features that no one dreamed of at its 1923 inauguration.
Designers didn’t factor in the stadium’s location on the Hayward fault, and by 1997 its walls had begun to crack apart.
The new building was delayed by protesters who occupied trees on the site, in an unsuccessful attempt to keep them from being cut down as part of the new construction.
The new design features seismic blocks that can move independently, and a press box on shock absorbers that is designed to sway up to 12 inches. The ground could slide 6 feet and the stadium wouldn’t break, according to engineer David Friedman.
“We’re standing right on top of an active earthquake fault,” Friedman told KQED’s Caitlin Esch. “So this has never really been done before.”