Allied Works was a finalist in an international design competition for the new Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. BAM/PFA is an institution that serves as a museum, film center and archive, a presenter of diverse cultural programming and a catalyst for new artistic production. The site is an important gateway between the city of Berkeley and the University of California campus.

The building proposal is a compound structure defined by differing qualities of light and ways of engaging the collection. The design envisions two interlocking spatial systems – one for art and one for film. In the first system, a continuous and ascending gallery sequence engages the street and brings visitors into contact with the collection, the campus, city and the Berkeley Hills beyond. Advanced daylighting and reconfigurable spaces provide a range of environments for the presentation of the diverse collection of the museum. In the second system, massive walls spiral into the earth and hold a chain of discrete volumes for lectures, performance, archival storage, film screenings and multi-media installations.