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UC Berkeley's Grimes Engineering Center, designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, has been named a winner in Fast Company's 2026 Innovation by Design Awards. The building sits near a major Bay Area fault line and features a new seismic-responsive structural system engineered to withstand strong earthquakes, with the bracing left visible rather than hidden behind walls.
Fast Company named the winners of its 2026 Innovation by Design Awards in the architectural design category, honoring buildings and interiors that address challenges in the built environment. The top prize went to UC Berkeley's Grimes Engineering Center, designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, an adaptive-reuse project featuring a new seismic-responsive structural system aimed at improving earthquake resilience.
XDOF, a startup founded by UC Berkeley researchers Philipp Wu and Fred Shentu that supplies teleoperation data for training robots, is reportedly in late-stage talks for a Series B round valuing it at roughly $1.2 billion, led by 8VC. The company raised a $70 million Series A only in June, but investors approached it again after its annualized revenue climbed toward $50 million. The final size of the raise and whether it includes new capital in the valuation remain unconfirmed, and terms could still shift.