David Blackwell Hall at the University of California, Berkeley, uses 60,000 square feet of the SMARTci® building enclosure system over wood studs, behind plaster cladding, with polyiso insulation. It is a student residence hall on the Berkeley campus. It was designed by SCB Architects, built by Webcor Builders, and installed by RFJ Meiswinkel Co.

Student housing must withstand years of intensive use while remaining low-maintenance, and here a plaster finish is applied over a wood-framed wall. Plaster is rigid and cracks when its backing moves, while wood framing responds to moisture and load more than steel does. The SMARTci system addresses this with a continuous, rigid, thermally broken support plane over the polyiso, isolating the plaster from that movement and holding the finish stable.