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About the Project
The UC Irvine Middle Earth Housing Expansion project is an expansion of the existing undergraduate complex. Middle Earth provides 510 students with high-quality housing accommodations along with dining, learning and amenity spaces. The vertical design expands UC Irvine’s capacity to accommodate increasing enrollment and demand for on-campus housing.
The project features two residential towers that rise above a mixed-use podium and richly landscaped base, echoing the natural form and color of the region’s limestone canyons. In the towers, communities of student suites are connected on each level by a social amenity space complete with group kitchens, media viewing and laundry facilities. Below, the two-story podium features a 750-seat dining facility serving the entire campus population, amenity space for student interaction, multipurpose classrooms and a new headquarters for housing administration. The landscape rises over the first floor to create a central terrace and landform that draws residents to and through this student life center, situated at the gateway to the academic core of the campus.
Awards
2020
- DBIA National – Award of Merit – Educational Facilities
- DBIA National – Award of Excellence – Educational Facilities
- DBIA Western Pacific Region – Design Excellence Award
