RIVERSIDE, Calif.—Architect Solomon Cordwell Buenz and general contractor McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. are pressing forward on the $285 million North District Phase 2 Student Housing Development at the University of California, Riverside (UCR). The 424,000-square-foot project is meant to address a dearth of affordable housing at both UCR and the nearby Riverside Community College District (RCCD), which collectively have seen a tremendous increases in recent enrollment.

“We can’t solve all the problems that are challenges for students, but we can solve those two by bringing students to the campus, letting them live here, wear their UCR or RCC T-shirt, and just be part of the campus,” Kim Wilcox, chancellor of UCR, said of the project work. “It breaks down a barrier and, aside from the housing, it provides [students] with a different sense of themselves.”

The development will offer 429 single- and double-occupancy apartments ranging from one to four bedrooms. Each living unit will offer a kitchen and living room space, high-speed Wi-Fi and air conditioning. Communal spaces will include dedicated study areas as well as a café/market, recreational fields and a public park.

The project, funded partially by the State Higher Education Student Housing Grant Program, increases the number of available student beds at UCR and RCC to 1,568.

“The McCarthy team is proud to be part of this revolutionary project, which helps bridge the gap between larger universities and community colleges,” said Sarah Carr, vice president of McCarthy. “This housing development will provide affordable options that will enhance graduation rates not only for UCR students, but for Riverside City College students as well—a benefit to the entire community.”

Wolde-Ab Isaac, RCCD chancellor, added that this joint housing project “is meticulously and intentionally designed to break persistent cultural and psychological barriers that many of our first-generation and low-income students experience through a process of total immersion into the UC system.

“My hope is this unique partnership and innovative approach will serve as a model for others to emulate around the state.”

The first students are anticipated to commence moving into the North District Phase 2 Student Housing Development sometime in 2025.

McCarthy Building Companies, Inc., the oldest privately held national construction company in the United States. Based in St. Louis, the general contracting firm operates from California locations including Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Jose, San Diego, Newport Beach and San Francisco. The firm, which is 100-percent employee-owned, is ranked the country’s 19th largest domestic building by ENR, and employs over 6,000 people.

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RIVERSIDE, Calif.—Things are certainly growing at the University of California, Riverside. Designer Perkins&Will and general contractor DPR Construction, along with personnel from UCR, recently gathered in celebration of a new state-of-the-art greenhouse and agricultural research building for UCR’s College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences (CNAS).

This two-story, 30,000-square-foot greenhouse project will allow CNAS faculty and students to conduct growth studies and learn more about feeding an expanding population. Some of the early work undertaken there entails investigating how bees pollinate flowers in different environments as well as testing how rice can be made to be more resistant to floods and drought conditions that are only becoming more dire as the planet warms. Other research will be undertaken to examine how climate-control tech can be applied to serve various other agricultural needs.

The architectural design features a serrated concrete wall on the lower level that can help regulate shifts in internal temperature more naturally rather than relying on HVAC exclusively. The main level offers specific rooms for potting, growth chambers as well as breakrooms. The facility’s second level features 16 individual greenhouse modules that can be customized for specific studies and research.

“I’m thrilled about the amazing work being facilitated in the new CNAS Plant Research building,” said Jessica Orlando, associate principal and higher education practice leader at Perkins&Will Los Angeles. “Our team feels so privileged to have contributed to the delivery of a functional, high-performance building that also creates a stunning design that pays homage to UC Riverside’s rich campus fabric.”

Perkins&Will personnel took as inspiration for their design motif the nearby greenhouses, whose gables were reproduced in a new way for the upper glass roof of the Plant Research building. Meanwhile, the structure employs minimal use of concrete, glass and steel in a nod to more eco-conscious development. Furthermore, each upper-level greenhouse is wrapped in double-pane polarized glass, allowing observers to watch experimenters at work.

Climate control for each individual greenhouse module can be manipulated to simulate a variety of different weather settings and levels of humidity. A large evaporative cooling system works for the entire building, and researchers also can modulate the amount of natural light entering into each individual module.

“It was important for us to couple practical functionality and the aesthetic roots of the surrounding greenhouses with the college’s forward-looking spirit and focus on scientific innovation,” said August Miller, senior designer at Perkins&Will. “This ultimately translated to a series of greenhouse modules, each its own independent laboratory, at the upper level.”

Added Yan Krymsky, design director of Perkins&Will’s Los Angeles studio: “It’s really a machine, a tool for research. But beyond that, we wanted to create a structure that spoke to the legacy of the university.”

The CNAS sits on a part of the UCR campus formerly occupied by older greenhouses. In fact, the school originally started out as University of California Citrus Experiment Station in 1907, eventually changing to UCR.

Perkins&Will was founded in 1935 and employs over 2,000 people in 20 studios around the world. The firm’s Los Angeles studio is located in the heart of the historic downtown.

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RIVERSIDE, Calif.—The University of California Regents board has approved the Riverside campus’s new $84 million Education Building II project for UCR’s School of Medicine.

Following a design-build competition, the University of California Regents—in concert with the UCR Office of Planning, Design, and Construction—selected the design-build team of Hensel Phelps and CO Architects for the construction project. Both firms are headquartered in Southern California.

Included in the education building plan are an outdoor plaza that will give the School of Medicine its own unique identity. Solar panels and state-of-the-art thermally insulating materials will help reduce the building’s environmental impact. Due to its sustainable design, the Education Building II facility has been certified LEED Platinum.

In a recent statement, Eric Bain, Hensel Phelps’ operations manager for the project, said that his firm is excited to be back at UC Riverside. Hensel Phelps previously worked on the campus’s Multidisciplinary Research Building, which won a National Award of Merit in the category Industrial, Process and Research Facilities.

“At the core of our design and construction efforts is the desire to support, promote, and advance the campus’s vision to create an inclusive and innovative learning environment,” said Bain. “The design-build team looks forward to working side by side with UCR to create a new home for the School of Medicine that will be a focal point on campus and within the broader Riverside County community.”

“We have partnered with Hensel Phelps on other strategic pursuits for the University of California, and have highly refined the process to deliver exceptional buildings,” James Simeo, principal at CO Architects and project design lead, said of the collaboration. “The new, five-story facility will create a new home for the School of Medicine, prioritizing collaborative spaces for students, faculty, and staff.”

University personnel weighed in on the value of the Education Building II project, and also praised the joint venture of the two construction firms, which is being labeled “Hensel Phelps + CO Architects.”

“I would like to thank the UC Regents for their approval of this project, which will give us the space we need to grow our class sizes to 125 students per year and continue to fulfill the mission of increasing the number of physicians in the underserved inland Southern California,” Dr. Deborah Deas, vice chancellor of health sciences and the Mark and Pam Rubin Dean of the UCR School of Medicine, said of the collaboration. “There is so much to be excited about.”

Construction is due to kick off this summer, and Bain anticipates UCR School of Medicine’s Education Building II’s will be completed sometime in the middle of 2023.

UCR’s medical school first opened in 2013. In addition to its doctorate in medicine, the school offers concentrations in biomedical sciences, general surgery, pediatrics, psychiatry and cardiovascular medicine.

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