Puerta del Sol

IRVINE, CA-The University of California Irvine now has 1,763 new graduate and undergraduate beds in a recently opened $221 million student housing project. The Gold LEED student housing, designed by KTGY Group Inc. Architecture and Planning along with a seven-level parking garage, will enable UCI to move closer to its goal of having 50% of housing on campus, according to an announcement that UCI issued when construction on the new housing began in 2008.

The completion of the project, which includes the Camino del Sol undergraduate housing project and Puerta del Sol graduate housing, allows UCI to house 45% of its student body on campus, more than any other UC institution, according to Benchmark Contractors Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Morley Builders, which constructed the project on behalf of the developer, Austin, TX-based American Campus Communities Inc. The $221 million price tag includes $137 million in hard costs for construction.

Camino del Sol

The new project highlights the many new amenities and green features that will be the new benchmark for future campus developments across the US, according to KTGY, which notes that the new residences are designed and located to promote the use of public transportation, bicycles and walkways.

The project consists of two complexes on separate sites on UCI's east campus. The first is, Puerto del Sol, a 565-bed graduate housing development of studios, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments in two four-story buildings on the former site of an under-utilized parking lot. The other is Camino del Sol, an 1,198-bed undergraduate complex that comprises 21 buildings of two and three stories.

Daniel McAllister, architect and principal with KTGY, and the lead designer on the project, said that UCI grad students, who often are paying their own way, want more affordable housing and sparse amenities to keep the rent down. This has led to the design of efficiency studio units as an option and some two-bedroom units that they can share with another grad student to reduce rents further.

Parking Structure

While Camino del Sol is designed with undergraduates in mind, it brings the first townhome-style living to campus. The three-story dwellings have shared kitchen, living and dining on the ground floor with two to four bedrooms upstairs. The units have private bedrooms and the option of private bathroom as well as an in-suite laundry. The undergraduate community center features a 10,250-square-foot community building with social lounges, a business center, computer lab, and conference, meeting and study spaces. Outdoor amenities include a swimming pool, spa, sundeck, a poolside kitchen and outdoor dining.

The new projects completes the connection between previously built housing that was also designed by KTGY, and the campus core. Both new complexes are served by the new, 1,803-space parking structure, which was designed to accommodate surface parking removed by the building of the structure, which also serves the Anteater Recreation Center.