Evans Hall (UC Berkeley) facts for kids
Evans Hall is a building at the University of California, Berkeley. It is home to the departments of statistics, economics, and mathematics.
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A Hub for Early Computer History
Evans Hall played a big role in the early days of the internet. It was an important connection point for the ARPANET (a very early version of the internet) for the entire West Coast. Back then, the main internet line was quite slow, like a small road compared to today's highways!
This building was also a birthplace for many important computer programs. The famous vi text editor, which many programmers still use, was created here. Also, Berkeley Unix (BSD), a key computer operating system, got its start in Evans Hall.
Even video games have roots here! The classic game Rogue was further developed in Evans Hall. This game helped test a special programming tool called the curses library. Plus, two important database systems, Ingres and Postgres, were first coded in this building under Professor Michael Stonebraker's guidance.
Professor Doug Cooper, who wrote a very popular programming textbook called "Oh! Pascal!", also had his office in Evans Hall.
About the Building's Design
How Evans Hall Was Built
Evans Hall is located on the northeast side of the UC Berkeley campus. It was finished in 1971. The building is named after Griffith C. Evans, who was the head of the mathematics department from 1934 to 1949. He was known for combining math and economics. Gardner A. Dailey was the architect who designed it.
In the 1990s, the building was updated. It got stronger to better handle earthquakes and received a new coat of paint. Today, it has a blue-green outside with orange-red details.
Concerns About Safety
The university has a plan to improve its campus buildings. As part of this plan, Evans Hall has been suggested for demolition and replacement. This is partly because its earthquake safety rating is not very good. In 2000, there was a suggestion to replace it with two smaller buildings.
Even though Evans Hall's earthquake rating is poor, many other buildings on the UC Berkeley campus have the same rating. A "poor" rating means that a big earthquake could cause "significant structural damage" and be dangerous for people inside.
In the early 2000s, parts of the building's frame started to rust. This caused "large pieces of concrete" to fall off the outside of Evans Hall. Fixing these problems cost two million dollars.
Why Some People Dislike Evans Hall
Students at UC Berkeley have often voted Evans Hall as one of the least attractive buildings on campus.
Many classrooms inside Evans Hall do not have windows. This can make them feel a bit closed off. The Chronicle of Higher Education once called it "an imposing concrete structure that most people on the campus would like to see demolished." A former chancellor, Robert M. Berdahl, said the building didn't make people feel proud of its look or design. Some people also feel that the building blocks the beautiful view of the San Francisco Bay.
To protest its appearance, some math-themed murals have been painted inside the building.
Evans Hall was once repainted a gray-green color. The idea was for the building to blend in better with the nearby Berkeley hills.
Common Stories and Legends
The Unabomber Story
There's a widely told story that math professor Ted Kaczynski, who later became known as the Unabomber, taught in Evans Hall. Even some official university publications have repeated this rumor. However, this story is not true. Kaczynski left the university in 1969, but Evans Hall was not built until 1971. His actual office was in temporary buildings that are no longer there.
Images for kids
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Evans Hall as seen from Sather Tower in 2022.
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