Tata Hall at the University of California at San Diego
San Diego
Award of Merit

Owner: University of California, San Diego
Contractor: McCarthy Building Cos.
Lead Design Firm: CO Architects
Structural Engineer: KPFF Consulting Engineers
Civil Engineer: Nasland Engineering
MEP Engineer: Affiliated Engineers Inc.
Landscape Architect: Spurlock Landscape Architects

Standing seven stories, this flexible laboratory building supports biological and physical sciences research and education. Completed six weeks ahead of schedule, the project originally called for LEED Silver certification but the design team anticipates receiving LEED Gold. 

During construction, the project was surrounded by busy classroom buildings, an active gymnasium, a swimming pool area and a soccer field. This posed challenges throughout construction to ensure student and faculty safety while keeping the work moving forward.

The tight working environment became complicated during the rerouting and installation of utilities because the utilities of surrounding structures were also within the new project’s footprint and needed to be tied into the system. Those included chilled water, hot water, natural gas, sewer mains, 12-kv power lines, water mains and irrigation. Contractors overcame this hurdle by coordinating closely with school staff and scheduling utility work when it would least affect nearby buildings.

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