When the doors to the newly renovated Moffitt Library opened Monday afternoon, a cheer rose from the students gathered out front.
Then they began to pour inside.
It was the first time in more than a year that students had been in Moffitt. They wandered through the reimagined lower three floors, peeking into rooms and taking in a building that was at once familiar and entirely new.
A student put a hand to their mouth as they stepped onto the second floor. Another pulled a phone from their pocket to take photos. Others tested seats, shuffling from couches to booths to chairs. There was plenty of pointing.
One student summed up the mood on social media: “My best friend is back.”
The reopening marks the completion of the Carol T. Christ Center for Connected Learning at Moffitt Library. The $58 million renovation of the lower floors nearly doubles the amount of student-centered space, including an expanded Free Speech Movement Café and an enhanced maker studio. Student input helped shape everything from the flexible furnishings and inviting gathering spaces to the nature-inspired color palettes.
“I think students will find that the project was well worth the wait,” said Suzanne Wones, UC Berkeley’s university librarian. “This will be where generations of Cal undergraduates make lifelong friendships and dream up the world’s next big ideas.”
That sense of connection is already familiar to Margaret Solomon ’27, Cal’s student body president. During her first year on campus, Moffitt Library offered her something especially valuable: a sense of belonging.
“I hope it becomes a space to make connections for them and then also a space to feel at home when you’re outside of your actual home,” Solomon said. “That’s what it was for me my first year in the space.”
Creating that kind of place for Berkeley undergraduates has been more than a decade in the making. The first phase of the project, a renovation of Moffitt’s two upper floors, was completed in 2016. Plans for the remaining three floors were delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic and supply chain disruptions. The final phase eventually moved forward with generous support from donors, including a capstone gift from alumna Nadine Tang M.S.W. ’75. At Tang’s request, the center was named in honor of her friend Chancellor Emerita Carol T. Christ.
“I want to extend my deepest gratitude to the donors whose vision and generosity helped make this project a reality,” Chancellor Rich Lyons said. “I am especially grateful to Nadine Tang, whose transformative gift honors her friendship with Chancellor Christ and their shared desire to provide a space that facilitates all modes of learning for all students, regardless of their backgrounds or goals.”
Designed by — and for — students
Turning that vision into a physical space began with a basic question: What do students actually want from their library?
The answer, gathered through surveys, workshops, and years of conversations with undergraduates, was relatively simple.
“They wanted more space, period,” said Jen Brown, Berkeley’s undergraduate learning and research librarian. “They didn’t want to have to sit on the floor or just not have a place to dock their stuff or not have enough outlets.”
That feedback became a guiding principle for the renovation: Create more places where students could gather, study, and work together. Nowhere is that transformation more apparent than on the second floor, once occupied exclusively by staff offices and now reimagined as an expansive student space with study booths and flexible seating.
The second floor is also home to the Moffitt Library Maker Studio and the Discovery Hub. Programming at the expanded Maker Studio will kick off with guided tours for students in mid-September. The studio has dedicated areas for sewing and textile arts, 3D printing, and other hands-on projects, plus spaces for consultations and group instruction. Next door, the Discovery Hub brings the Berkeley Discovery initiative into Moffitt, helping connect undergraduates to research opportunities, internships, and other hands-on learning experiences that complement their coursework. An adjacent learning studio provides space for workshops and programming.
UC Berkeley Library leaders — working in partnership with architecture firm BNIM — also looked beyond square footage, asking how the building itself could better support student well-being.
Instead of treating every floor the same, they created spaces with distinct personalities. The first floor offers quiet places to focus and reflect. It also houses a new Computer-Based Testing Facility run by Research, Teaching & Learning, providing space for exams and expanding access for students who need testing accommodations.
Oliver O’Reilly, UC Berkeley’s vice provost for undergraduate education, said the facility gives students more options for when they take exams. A student facing a conflict between a test and an internship interview, for example, could potentially take the exam here at another time. The facility offers similar flexibility to student-athletes who travel for competition.
“Demand is off the charts for this,” O’Reilly said. “And I think once people start seeing it, and it gets more publicity, it’s going to get even more. My hope is that this is the first of many (such spaces) across campus.”
The other renovated floors have distinct vibes of their own. The second floor, now connected to the first by an internal staircase, allows for conversation, making, and discovery.
The third floor encourages students to connect over coffee, food, and art. An expanded Free Speech Movement Café, which is expected to be open at the end of the month, anchors the floor, while the Pan Family Lounge offers a more refined setting for studying, gathering, and student events. The Koret Gallery, an exhibit space open to the public, features displays curated in partnership with undergraduates.
Natural elements tie the experience together. Each floor draws inspiration from a different part of California’s landscape — aquatic environments, minerals, flowers, birds, and trees — with colors, materials, and room names that echo those themes.
“Bringing in that nature piece was super important to us,” said Nicole Brown, the head of Moffitt Library and a key leader of the redesign project. “Because this is a brutalist building, we had to do something to soften it up. Our favorite buzzword we learned from working with the architects is ‘biophilia.’ That is really the art of bringing nature into the space.”
Preserved plants and softer finishes help temper the building’s concrete bones, creating spaces that feel less institutional and more welcoming.
For Nicole Brown, those choices are about much more than aesthetics.
“We want to support (students) in their well-being so that they can bring their best selves to work,” she said. “It all kind of comes together in caring for your whole being: your body, mind, and spirit.”
That philosophy shows up in large and small ways — from a reflection room and a snack room to modular furniture that students can rearrange as their needs change. Even the new study booths reflect research showing that most undergraduates collaborate in groups of two or three. Designed with those smaller groups in mind, the booths offer an easy alternative to traditional reservable study rooms.
The team knows it won’t get everything right the first time. In fact, they planned it that way.
“We’re not trying to say this is what the building is,” Jen Brown said. “We’re really excited to see the students come in and show us how they want to use it … and how we can continue growing the building in response to the ways they want to navigate it.”
Building a better Berkeley
The reimagined Moffitt Library is the culmination of years of planning, fundraising, and collaboration, shaped by a long list of Library leaders, campus partners, architects, and designers.
Former University Librarian Jeffrey MacKie-Mason championed the vision of transforming Moffitt into a center for connected learning, advancing the renovation of the fourth and fifth floors and helping lay the groundwork for the project’s final phase. Elizabeth Dupuis, former senior associate university librarian, and Nicole Brown, who also heads the Library’s Instruction Services Division, were guiding forces behind the project, cementing the vision and shepherding it through years of detailed planning. Tim Capalbo, the head of Library capital projects, and his predecessor, Sukhjit Johal, helped steer the project from blueprint to reality. Together with countless staff members and campus collaborators, these key leaders reimagined one of Berkeley’s busiest buildings for a new generation of students.
The project would not have been possible without the support of donors. Philanthropic gifts helped realize an ambitious vision, funding spaces designed to support students throughout their undergraduate experience.
Among those donors was Tang, the alumna whose capstone gift allowed the renovation project to cross the finish line.
Tang chose to honor her longtime friend, Christ, recognizing the chancellor emerita’s extraordinary leadership and passion for the quality of the student experience.
“I knew that I wanted to do something for Carol,” Tang said. “And I know she loves libraries. She loves books. That’s something we have in common. We’re both avid readers. And I just thought this would be the perfect thing to do for her.”
Though Moffitt is one of the few libraries on campus without books, the renovation creates a more seamless connection to the millions of volumes housed in the neighboring Main (Gardner) Stacks, with an improved entry and passageway between the two.
For Christ, having her name associated with a library carries special meaning. She has loved libraries since childhood and has a particular fondness for Moffitt. Just as important to her is the role libraries play in creating a home base for undergraduates on campus.
“I think it’s critical for undergraduates to have places to study; such places are a kind of third space — not the classroom or the lab, not their dorm or apartment — but a space between,” Christ said. “I’ve been struck repeatedly at how important undergraduates regard this kind of space. I’ve had many conversations with undergraduates about their favorite places to study on the campus. It’s my hope that this center — as the top floors of Moffitt are now — will not only be this kind of space, but also a place for communal learning, and a place to find resources.”
Editor’s note: This article was updated from its original form.