UCSD Housing Dining Hospitality Building
- Project Address: Scholar's Drive just south of La Jolla Shores Drive
- Project Owner/ Developer: UC San Diego
- Owner Contact Name/ Email: Mark Cunningham/ mcunningham@ucsd.edu
- Project Architect/ Designer: Studio E Architects
The Housing Dining Hospitality Building is the administrative home of the University of California San Diego’s Housing Dining Hospitality group and the campus’ central catering kitchen. Here everything to do with food or housing on campus is handled. The building overlooks North Torrey Pines Road and presents an open and inviting face to the community despite being surrounded by much taller structures. The distinguishing feature of the building is its rippling glass screen wall that hangs free of the building and provides thermal and sun glare protection to the spaces inside and runs free of the building at the top to make a wind break to protect an open terrace. The screen wall is subtly faceted in three water colors to catch daylight across the day and suggest the character of sunlight across a body of water. A perfect metaphor for a structure with coastal views.
Project Awarded
This highly visible structure on Torrey Pines Road makes a bold statement as a physical representation of UCSD to the public. As the nominator noted, the colors of the glass screen wall create a palette of subtly faceted blue and green water colors that not only provide thermal and sun glare protection, but also complement the waves of the Pacific Ocean, visible in the distance. It was clear to the jury that the design team understood the importance of the building’s impact on the students’ lives because every detail was well-considered and executed. As one juror noted “this project hits the mark on multiple levels: Architecture, Interior Design, and Sustainable Design. It’s not just one thing; it’s several things.” Another juror commented that although the LEED designation is commendable, there was more to this project than just points. The designers truly endeavored to do the right thing with every design detail, making it a coherent, sustainable and very usable building.