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BERKELEY-- On the same site where beloved Harmon Gymnasium once stood,the University of California, Berkeley's new Walter A. Haas, Jr. Pavilionwas unveiled for the first time today (Thursday, Sept. 16), revealing astunning new campus building and state-of-the-art sports facility that retainsthe old gym's famous intimacy and spirit.

The new basketball arena, the centerpiece to the new facility, has morethan 12,000 seats, about twice as many as its predecessor. But a cleverseating arrangement - "as if 6,000 people were on top of the shouldersof 6,000 others," according to one Cal sports administrator - willcontinue to keep fans close to the game action.

The towering building is 37 feet taller and 28 feet wider than Harmonand built to withstand a major earthquake. Funded through generous privategifts and other non-state support, it also provides the Berkeley campuswith a much needed indoor site for large-scale, non-athletic events.

"The transformation of Harmon Gym into the Haas Pavilion is a magnificentaddition to our campus. The moment you walk in you feel the vibrancy ofthe place, but you also instantly feel a very real connection to the pastthat is just wonderful," said Chancellor Robert M. Berdahl.

"Student athletes will love playing here and our great and devotedfans will love watching the action here. But the Haas Pavilion is morethan just an impressive new sports facility. It provides our large campuswith a venue for extraordinary campus-wide gatherings, conferences and specialevents," he said.

The Walter A. Haas Jr. Pavilion is the first building completed and themost highly visible result of the campus's record-breaking $1.1 billionCampaign for a New Century. The $57.5 million project is being financedwith $41 million in private gifts and $16.5 million from a combination ofrevenues from athletics, a campus seismic safety fee paid by students, andmiscellaneous income funds.

In addition to the basketball arena, the pavilion includes a refurbishedhome for the Department of Human Biodynamics, including classrooms and labs;a club room for spectators and special events; widespread Internet connectionsand some 50 TV monitors; a state-of-the-art video system; a modern pressroom; athletic administration offices; and a team store selling Cal merchandise.And, while the 1930s-era Harmon Gymnasium was designed strictly as a sportsfacility for men, the new pavilion offers equal locker room and trainingfacilities for men and women athletes.

Home to Cal's intercollegiate basketball teams, Haas Pavilion also willhouse offices for the varsity women's volleyball squad as well as aquatics,soccer, track and field, and the baseball team.

The public will get a chance to view the new pavilion on Friday evening,Sept. 24 when it will be open for a rally from 7:30 p.m. to 8:45 p.m. aspart of the campus's annual Homecoming, Reunion & Family Weekend.

Harmon Gym, which opened in 1933, was the Pac 10's smallest basketballfacility but the Haas Pavilion is now among the largest. The new pavilion is large enough to host first- and second-round NCAA tournaments.

The first basketball games to be held in the arena will be exhibitiongames for both the men's and women's teams in early November.

The idea for a new pavilion to replace aging Harmon arose on campus inthe mid-1970s. During the next 20 years, feasibility studies were done andsuggestions made, including tearing Harmon down and rebuilding on the samesite, constructing a new stadium off campus, and sharing the Oakland Warriors'New Arena.

"There just was no question about it - the Haas Pavilion neededto be here, in the heart of the campus. It is a symbol that we are seriousabout what we are doing for our student athletes. Everything we've designedinto the new pavilion was done with the student athlete uppermost in ourmind," said Athletic Director John Kasser.

An $11 million gift from Walter A. and Evelyn Haas, Jr., got the pavilionconstruction project off the ground, and work began in March 1997. Donationscame from many more sources, including individuals and groups who purchasedseats.

Walter Haas, Jr., who died in 1995, "dreamed for many years aboutthe creation of a great new sports pavilion for Cal athletics," saidhis son, Walter "Wally" Haas. "He hoped it would become awonderful new resource for the university community. Today, he would bethrilled and honored by its opening and for what the pavilion promises forCal's great future."

Except for landscaping and installing the scoreboards and video replayboards, the construction project is virtually complete, said Jules Feher,senior construction manager for Project Management Associates, on-site projectmanagement consultants.

The renovation required 2,000 tons of steel, 10,000 cubic yards of concreteand more than one million square feet of dry wall.

"I've never seen a thing or an object generate as much excitementas this building and the anticipation of its opening," said Kevin Anderson,UC Berkeley associate athletic director for development. "People whohave never before contributed to the athletic department or the campus camethrough in a very generous way."

From the outside, the new pavilion has a contemporary look that incorporatesthe 1930s, Art Deco style of Harmon Gym. The old and fragile decorativefacade and window detailing were kept intact and recessed into larger, strongernew walls.

The main entrance's old, paneled foyer was refurbished. Its ancient chandeliersand original ceramic tile floor are in the process of being preserved aswell.

Inside the arena, the new court features a six-inch-thick flooring system- one of only two in the country. The resilient floor will help preventlower extremity injuries to athletes and give the basketball a truer rebound,said Bill Manning, UC Berkeley's senior associate athletic director.

The arena was designed to preserve another facet of the old Harmon Gym- intimidating the opponent with raucous noise. Consequently, sound-bafflingdevices were omitted intentionally.

"Noise is what makes for a lively exchange on the court," saidManning. "Around the country and, in particular, in the Pac 10, thetendency is to move students away from the court. Not here."

Student seating has been doubled from 1,300 seats in Harmon to 2,600seats in Haas. About 900 of the student seats are court side, and the Calband will sit opposite the visiting bench. Harmon's old wooden plank benches,which were removed, replaned and refinished, are predominant in the studentsection.

But chances are, the students won't use them. Traditionally, most Calstudents stand for the entire game. Knowing this, the architects arrangedthe seating so that fans on their feet won't obstruct any one's line ofsight.

In fact, no one's line of sight will be obstructed in the new arena,where the building's designers insist that there is not a bad seat in thepavilion. The last row of seats is only 88 feet from the court - a distancethat compares with watching Cal basketball from the lower concourse levelof Oakland's New Arena, where games have been played the last two yearsduring construction.

Nearly 2,000 club seats with chair backs have been installed in the arena. The athletic department had a highly successful campaign for donors tosubscribe to these premium seats to help pay for the building's construction.

Fans also will enjoy wider corridors, a quadrupling in the number ofrestrooms and new concession areas. Eventually, the arena also will havefour high-tech scoreboards and two huge, high resolution video screens withinstant replay.

For Cal athletes, and for athletes considering playing for Cal, the pavilion's$500,000 sports medicine and weight training facilities "are more impressivethan elsewhere in our conference, and the equipment is the best in the worldtoday," said Manning. "This is top, top stuff that is criticalin terms of the athletes' health and welfare, and it's critical in recruitment."

Previously at Cal, said Manning, "recruitment would come down torelationships between coaches and players. Now, we've got not only goodcoaches, but one of the finest basketball facilities in the country. "

The UC Berkeley Office of Planning, Design and Construction was the projectmanager; project architect was Ellerbe Becket; and general contractor wasMorse Diesel International.

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