A small non-profit, the Berkeley Chess School occupies a former church building on a busy thoroughfare in Berkeley, CA. The school needs to add ADA compliant access to its tournament hall, located on the second floor. By filling the existing front yard and bringing the facade to the street property line, a space 17' deep and 44' wide houses a new platform lift, relocated stairs, a lobby, cafe and additional classroom. Within the tiny construction budget, the new facade includes a relatively inexpensive 16' x 16' storefront window, with alternating etched and tinted glass, forming an enormous chessboard on the street. A double height lobby space behind the partially transparent chessboard is accessed via the existing driveway on the south side of the new addition.
The schools identity becomes present at an urban scale, and the window transcends being a signifier-- it becomes a spatial element that dramatically announces the building's use.