UC San Diego has opened new apartment-style residence spaces, Pepper Canyon West Living and Learning Neighborhood, located on the eastern edge of the campus, in an effort to provide more on-campus housing.
Perkins&Will, a international architecture and design firm with a studio in San Diego, shaped Pepper Canyon’s two towers, one with 23 floors and the other 22. The project has direct access to the campus, with views of the city, ocean and mountains.
The $352 million project provides units at below-market-rate rents to approximately 1,300 transfer and upper-division students, in an effort to create more affordable options in San Diego and on campus.
The apartment-style spaces feature single occupancy rooms within suites, including a bathroom, kitchen and living area, according to UCSD housing.
“We’re trying to replicate what you would find if students had to move off campus and get an apartment. This would be their apartment, but at a much more reduced rate so they can actually afford to live in San Diego,” said Ryan Bussard, design director for Perkins&Will who worked on the project.
In contrast to the height of the towers, there are lower courtyards that are intended to “open to the canyons … and pull the canyon plantings into the site,” Bussard said.
The residence’s facade design was inspired by vegetation native to nearby canyons and located around campus. There are six terraces wrapped in trellis canopies and overhung by vine species to provide shade.
“We looked at the native trees and the canyon and the bark – the way the light plays on those trees and the way the bark peels – we thought we would abstract the building look to replicate that,” Bussard said.
This is Perkins&Will’s third project at UCSD. Each time, according to Bussard, they look at the site and determine what the building’s inspiration will be.
“One of the things we love about working in San Diego and on campus is the native and natural environment,” Bussard said.
All units are identical in the towers, and communal spaces, including kitchens, study rooms, lounges and fitness centers, are in close proximity.
“You want to create a sense of community outside your individual room,” Bussard said. “Most students are transfers, so this is their chance to make new connections – lifelong friends … to mix and meet each other.”
At the edges of the community, there are plans for retail, coffee and food shops that meet with bicycle and walking paths for more chances to connect with neighboring residents.
“We want to create equity … in the experience and unique moments that are memorable for the students,” Bussard said.
This is the university’s first upper-division student housing project, funded partly by the state of California’s Higher Education Student Housing Grant Program.
