“We’re working to make UCI one of the truly special places. If you think about places in the world renowned for their architecture, they all have a strong contextual fabric. There’s a wonderful feeling of place. That kind of environment is not created by just one building.”
– Rebekah Gladson, campus architect and associate vice chancellor

Related links

• UCI’s new student center is open for business.
• Recent building awards
• More information about the UCI construction program (pdf)
• Photo gallery of past & current construction projects
• Photographic progress report for new hospital project (pdf)

In the Works
More than $1 billion of capital investment and renewal is transforming the campus and medical center. They include Humanities Gateway, Biological Sciences 3, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Engineering 3, Telemedicine/ Medical Education, Arts, Steinhaus Hall Renovation, Rowland Hall, ARC Expansion, the New University Hospital and the next phase of East Campus student apartments.

The New University Hospital project is in the “final stretch” – 85 percent complete and on schedule. The project’s success has enabled UCI to seek regents’ approval to move quickly into Phase 2 of the medical center expansion, which calls for 67,000 square feet for additional operating rooms, patient rooms and diagnostic services, as well as a medical laboratory building.

UCI has some of the best design-build partners in the West working on these projects. Consistent relationships with contractors of this caliber are key to a quality campus construction program. One contractor, Hensel Phelps, will soon complete its eighth project for UCI. Four other contractors are returning to campus for the second, third or fourth time. Three of the contractors are employee-owned.

Sustainability and Green Construction
New campus construction projects are remarkably “green,” despite persistent cost pressures due to commodity shortages and an overheated California construction market. In 2007, UCI was the first university in the nation to submit a campuswide Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design application to the U.S. Green Building Council. The campus’s pioneer project in this process, Palo Verde 2 Student Apartments, was awarded LEED Gold – the first such award in Orange County. Five other projects are contenders for LEED awards.

UCI is pursuing sustainability initiatives in other areas such as transportation, emissions reductions, waste stream reduction, water conservation and procurement. View a summary. (pdf)