SAN DIEGO—The UC San Diego Nuevo East Graduate Student Housing has been awarded the Design-Build Institute of America’s (DBIA) National Award of Merit in the Educational Facilities category. The award recognizes such players in the project as Latitude 33 Planning & Engineering; the UCSD project represents Latitude 33’s fourth DBIA Award in five years.

UCSD’s Nuevo East Graduate Student Housing is a $220-million development encompassing 712,000 square feet of living space for 1,300 students. The complex entails five middle- and high-rise buildings with student housing options ranging from one- to four-bedroom townhouses and apartments. Another building within the complex, called the Exchange, offers study space, fitness areas and meeting rooms. On the exterior, communal gardens and public gathering areas are meant to stoke a sense of community.

Hensel Phelps served as the project’s general contractor, which realized architect Mithun’s designs in conjunction with Latitude 33 Planning & Engineering. The Nuevo East Graduate Student Housing also met the school’s sustainability goals and secured USGBC LEED Gold certification.

Latitude 33’s duties on the job included design survey, civil engineering services as well as construction support and administration.

“Congratulations to UC San Diego, Hensel Phelps, Mithun, and the entire team for developing these highly successful graduate student residences,” said Kyle Boyce, Associate at Latitude 33 Planning & Engineering. “These homes were designed and built with meticulous intentionality—including the pedestrian flow, the neighborhood connections, the spaces to facilitate resident interaction, and the sustainability initiatives, to name a few.

“As a world-class university, these homes are a fantastic addition to UC San Diego’s offerings.”

The DBIA National Awards recognize design-build projects that apply industry best practices. Projects must be completed within budget, on time and without any attendant litigation in order to be eligible for nomination. A panel of industry experts then judges the projects for awards consideration.

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Construction of the NTPLLN will strive to meet campus sustainability goals with the project aiming to achieve  LEED Platinum, according to a statement. Landscape design will be sustainably focused as well, with an emphasis on drought tolerance.

Spreading across more than 10 acres, the project is the largest one in the campus’ history. The complex is slated to wrap construction in fall 2020 and will become the new home for Sixth College, composed of 2,000 undergraduate beds and 1,200 underground parking spaces. The complex will also include a market, dining hall, retail space and craft center — in addition to a pair of academic buildings, one each for Social Sciences and the Arts and Humanities.

“The North Torrey Pines Living and Learning Neighborhood is a fundamental component in the transformation of the UC San Diego campus into a live, learn, play community,” said Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla during the groundbreaking. “It’s an extraordinary venture that will enhance our students’ experience, providing them with a truly dynamic environment in which they can thrive.”

The Social Sciences’ space will be known as the Public Engagement Building, which will include the Department of Education Studies; CREATE, the Center for Research on Educational Equity, Assessment and Teaching Excellence; and the Urban Studies and Planning Program (with its new Real Estate and Development program major).

For Arts and Humanities, the division’s new building will include all three humanities departments — History, Literature and Philosophy — and will be the first time the trio will be hosted in the same space. The Arts and Humanities Building will also be home to the Institute of Arts and Humanities and the Analytical Writing Program.

Included in the academic space will be eight general assignment classrooms and four active learning classrooms, which are student-centered, technology-focused spaces, intended to facilitate student socializing. There will also be four lecture halls of different sizes: two 250-seat halls, one 350-seat hall and a spacious 600-seat lecture hall.

In addition to adding highly needed residential and learnings spaces, the NTPLLN will also provide ample open spaces and public improvements that will include the realignment of Scholars Drive.

UC San Diego will be working with Clark Construction Group – California, HKS Architects and Safdie Rabines Architects to create the intriguing new living and learning community. All three companies have offices in San Diego.

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Through a program of education sessions, pre-summit training and an expo featuring scores of green products and services, the summit will highlight the wide range of policies, programs, strategies and technologies that are being actively implemented to preserve the state’s natural resources.

The summit will officially open on April 7 and feature keynote speakers; Bob Foster, a former mayor of Long Beach and past president of Southern California Edison who has also served on the Board of Governors for the California Independent Systems Operators, and California Senate President pro Tempore Kevin de León, who has been at the forefront of vital environmental efforts, co-chairing Proposition 39 and the California Clean Energy Jobs Act.

A series of pre-summit seminars on April 6 will address vital sustainability topics, offering attendees an in-depth briefing on Prop 39 updates, best practices in school efficiency projects and resources for expanding the scope of efficiency projects. This session will feature presentations by stakeholders in all aspects of Prop 39 implementation, including the California Energy Commission, the Division of the State Architect and the California Conservation Corps.

Also on April 6, the Clean Cities Sacramento and East Bay Coalitions will host a day-long Clean Transportation Efficiencies Forum covering strategies for reducing petroleum use, efficiencies gained from alternative fuels and incentives for clean vehicles and infrastructure. A zero net energy (ZNE) workshop for state and local governments, facilitated by the New Buildings Institute with co-sponsorship by Green Technology, in partnership with the California Public Utilities Commission, also will take place April 6.

On April 7 and 8, more than 20 concurrent education sessions will address a range of topics relating to green policy and practice, including codes and standards, water conservation, green schools, funding sources for energy projects plans and sustainable purchasing.

Additionally, the Clean Cities Sacramento and East Bay coalitions are hosting a day of sessions focused on carbon reduction in the transportation sector, including updates on electric vehicles (EV) and EV infrastructure. The Institute for Local Government will present a local government track addressing topics like water, energy, climate and green economic development. The Office of Education and the Environment of CalRecycle will offer training on California’s K-12 environmental literacy curriculum, while a track from USGBC California will cover onsite water re-use, ZNE buildings and more.

The conference also includes an expo April 7-8, featuring more than 100 companies offering green products and services, from lighting solutions and flooring to water conservation technologies.

An opening reception will be hosted on April 6 and the event’s annual Leadership Awards reception will take place on the evening of April 7. The April 8 keynote breakfast featuring State Architect Chet Widom will also be open to all.

For more information about the summit, visit www.green-technology.org.

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A wide array of green building topics was covered at the two-day conference. In total, 33 sessions provided insight and strategies to an assortment of green building subjects — especially for those involved in green school projects. The summit provided forward-thinking education programs through various education tracks. Several green school-related sessions covered how schools should make the most out of Proposition 39, which promises to bring more than $2.5 billion to California schools over the next five years for energy-efficiency projects.

On Day 1, Track 4 covered Green Schools (USGBC) with a variety of green session topics. The first was “Healthier Schools by Design: EPD and HPD for the Future,” which discussed a movement led by the USGBC, Living Building Institute and the Healthy Building Network to encourage builders to use healthier interior materials such as walls, floors and furniture in schools. The second session was titled, “Leveraging Prop 39 for Green Schools Forever: Smart Energy Investments.” The session was geared toward providing K-12 district staff with practical resources and strategies to leverage their Prop 39 funding and focused on smart finance and implementation investments of tracked avoided costs. The third session addressed recommendations for how schools can teach students to save water and energy.

On Day 2, Track 4 covered the USGBC, while Track 6 covered Green Schools, offering more green building sessions that relate to the green school sector. The sessions addressed Prop 39 again, as well as educational seminars on green building codes and water conservation, among others.

Prior to the two-day summit, a pre-summit workshop on April 7 included a daylong seminar, “Prop 39: Implementation Update,” which was also dedicated to providing education and resources on Prop 39. The initiative has the potential to enable every local education agency to progress toward more efficient and healthier facilities, and to help schools save money that can be invested in teachers, supplies and other aspects of program delivery, according to summit leaders.

The presentation detailed proposal preparation and submittal, what kinds of projects are most likely to be approved and best practices that will enable project leaders to make the most of their funds, among many other subjects. Speakers at the workshop included Marcia Smith, program director for Prop 39 Implementation at the California Energy Commission; Bob Chase, deputy state architect; Bill McNamara, director of Energy Programs at the California Conservation Corp; Tim Rainey, executive director of the California Workforce Investment Board; Jim Kelsey, founding principal of kW Engineering; and Ariel Dekovic, senior program manager from the Collaborative for High Performance Schools.

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The measure closes a corporate tax loophole for out-of-state businesses and gives money to school districts in need of renovation and retrofits, as well as technology and energy-efficient upgrades.

“(Prop 39) will drive more businesses towards retrofitting existing structures,” said Nicole Biggard, a professor at UC Davis’ Energy Efficiency Center in a statement. “I think the revenue coming in will be a big boost for our businesses. It will really increase the market of the construction industry. It will also grow the workforce as well.”

Most of the Prop 39 school money will be directed towards upgrading school facilities and not new construction, although the California General Assembly is still in the process of developing a plan for the allocation of funds.

“The legislature is figuring out how to distribute the money,” said Kate Gordon, vice president for energy and environment at the Center for American Progress in Washington D.C., in a statement. “Right now, there are three pieces of legislature before (the state assembly) and we expect the governor in January to put something in the budget that hopefully the legislature will consider.”

The timeline for when these schools will receive funds of needed renovations is still up in the air, according to Eric Lamoureux, a spokesperson for the California Department of General Services in a statement. The California Department of General Services oversees all school construction in the state, and Lamoureux explained that it is too soon to tell when the schools will get a piece of the Prop 39 funding.

“Right now we really don’t know how this will all shake out,” said Lamoureux. “We’re expecting a lot of activity around getting these funds into the construction business, but we just don’t know how long it will take and what (distribution) will look like.”

Even with the uncertainty around the timing — the excitement that the funding is actually available is sparking officials in the state to think about necessary projects that could be implemented in the very near future.

Cesar Diaz, legislative director for the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California said that most schools need to be retrofitted in almost every area. “We’re talking about plumbing, roofing, windows, water, electricity — you name it and the schools need it,” he said in a statement.

Gordon also explained that energy retrofits also need to take place in many of the state’s schools, especially those in the Central Valley area.

“There are schools that are literally falling apart,” she said in a statement. “There are huge air quality issues in some classrooms. There are a lot of portable classrooms that are not in great shape, so this is an obvious place to invest California dollars.”

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