As the University of California, Santa Barbara, continued to grow, the administration wanted to give every undergraduate student the opportunity to live in campus housing. The San Joaquin Villages, which includes new student housing and a dining facility, is a response to this need. kevin daly Architects worked with three other firms to create a joint master plan, the components of which were subsequently designed and built by each firm in order to create an architecturally diverse village designed to feel as if it developed organically over time.

kdA designed two distinct neighborhood “clusters”. A rigorous riff on the dingbat apartments that make up much of UCSB’s student neighborhood, the three-bedroom units help students learn to live independently while still having the support of food and other campus housing services. Outside, exterior circulation acts as sun shading and encourages students onto continuous porches.

Site & Urban Context

This housing project was part of a broader environmental reconsideration of university property. Over time there has been a reduced need for automobiles and parking and an increased need for bicycle storage, creating an opportunity for infill housing development. The site is adjacent to a huge wetlands and bike path (an important boundary condition), and directly below the flight path of a regional airport and subject to species-specific nesting bird restrictions, including California Swallows.

All housing units are 3-bedrooms (two students in each) with two different layouts. One is a shorter layout with the three bedrooms next to each other, bathrooms and an open plan full kitchen and living room. The other unit is longer with three bedrooms, bathroom and an open plan living and kitchen with an island. Units are between 1058 sf and 1082 sf with a total development of 68,318 sf including the community study rooms. Each cluster is three-stories and can house up to 244 students and faculty.

Program & Social Context

The apartment-style housing has buildings accommodating 1,000 students and total construction is 293,380 gross square feet that incorporates student apartments, dining commons, and a market. kdA’s design for two of the four housing clusters (kdA designed cluster #2 and cluster #4) are apartment blocks connected by external circulation and communal spaces. Walkways attach to the buildings’ facades and project into the courtyard. Social spaces are woven among buildings, encouraging student interaction throughout the day.

The 350-bed housing rests on two sites within a greater community development. kdA collaborated with three other firms to develop the program and master plan and designed two distinct blocks of housing. These 3- bedroom units come in two basic shapes- – skinny and wide- – allowing the buildings to be arrayed as asymmetrical courtyards, creating open corners and encouraging informal pedestrian connections.

These neighborhoods are intended for students learning to live independently and provide characteristics of both dorm and apartment, encouraging shared cooked meals and visitors without compromising the privacy of each shared bedroom.

A key design component was the development of community building connections that are physically manifested via the centrally located gathering commons and exterior paths and bridges linking the dorms. Resting along a bike path that connects to the main portions of campus, the housing complex has ample bike parking.

Formal Architectural Strategy

The challenges of designing hybrid housing were met by kdA’s clever orientation of unit plans that rotate to create variety in the cluster forms, a construction process that maintained the variety cluster to cluster but was uniform in its sequence, and a design that balances the need for efficiency while fostering creativity and inclusivity. Acknowledging that housing is a 24-hour, 7-day a week learning environment, through intelligent planning and design kdA responded to user’s requests for centralized communal study facilities, open plan lounge and kitchen areas, and multiple areas for community gathering.

Sustainability

The project minimizes energy demand with a centralized solar hot water system to provide both heating and domestic hot water. The project has been certified LEED Platinum—the highest LEED certification possible (~5% of LEED qualifying projects receive this designation).