Tolman Hall, built in the early 1960s, was a cast-in-place concrete building and Brutalist landmark on the University of California, Berkeley campus, home to the Graduate School of Education and Department of Psychology. According to UC Berkeley, Tolman Hall’s mid-20th century modernist look, inspired by the work of famed architect Le Corbusier, won a major award for architect Gardner Dailey, who also designed Evans, Morrison, Hertz, and Kroeber Halls on the UC Campus.

Despite its architectural interest, sometimes buildings reach the end of their useful life, and need to be demolished to make way for newer, safer, and more modern buildings. Tolman Hall was set for demolition in 2018 after a seismic rating of deficient and obsolete building systems made renovation financially unfeasible.

Interactive Resources, Inc. completed the full demolition plans and specifications for the abatement, demolition, and site remediation. The demolition was completed in two phases, with “soft” demolition in late 2018 to remove all fixtures and fittings, leaving as little. “Hard” demolition was completed in 2019, utilizing heavy machinery to take apart and remove the building’s exterior and interior structure.