The architecture practice Studio Gang has been commissioned to expand the former campus of Kresge College, an educational experiment that has served students at the University of California, Santa Cruz, since the end of the last century. The original campus is organized around a winding pedestrian street within a redwood forest along ridges and ravines.

The intervention consists of four new buildings that extend the old pedestrian path up the hill, as well as intervening in the renovation of the original buildings, adapting them to contemporary needs. The project seeks to restore the integrity and community spirit of the original campus, while opening it up to students of all abilities and the natural ecology of a privileged environment.

The four new buildings designed by Studio Gang take a different path from the language used on the original campus. The new campus respectfully dialogues with its surroundings, displaying an organic and porous form that seeks to minimize the removal of pre-existing redwoods, bending around important groves and integrating into the topography.

The project works in conjunction with nature, seeking to reduce the carbon footprint of buildings, both new and pre-existing. The collaboration between nature and architecture helps reduce cooling loads, windows take advantage of the temperate climate to obtain greater passive cooling and allow natural ventilation, as well as other strategies thinking about the current and future resilience of the university.

Ampliación del Kresge College en la Universidad de California por Studio Gang. Fotografía por Jason O’Rear.  Kresge College Expansion at the University of California by Studio Gang. Photograph by Jason O’Rear.

Kresge College Expansion at the University of California by Studio Gang. Photograph by Jason O’Rear.

Project description by Studio Gang

Located in a redwood forest along ridges and ravines in northern California, Kresge College has been a bold experiment in student-driven education since 1971. Its original “hill town” campus by Charles Moore and William Turnbull created a bright, playful village within the forest, anchored by a winding pedestrian street, where students could practice Kresge’s founding theme of participatory democracy and test out new ways for living and learning.

Fifty years later, Studio Gang’s campus expansion plan aims to reinvigorate the Kresge campus as a vital, experimental environment for education—still independent-minded and free-spirited, but no longer so isolated and inward-facing. The campus expansion plan involves the construction of four new buildings—a trio of residential halls and an academic center—which together aim to restore the integrity and community spirit of the original design while simultaneously opening it up to embrace students of all abilities, the incredible natural ecology of its site, and the larger university community beyond.

Ampliación del Kresge College en la Universidad de California por Studio Gang. Fotografía por Jason O’Rear.
Kresge College Expansion at the University of California by Studio Gang. Photograph by Jason O’Rear.

At the campus scale, the project extends the original pedestrian street into a loop path. This includes incorporating accessible pathways and, at specific moments, turning the inward-facing street outward to connect with the surrounding forest and other portions of the university. The plan also imagined strategies for the renewal of the original buildings and smaller structures like the well-loved Mayor’s Stand, including possible renovations and upgrades to improve durability and environmental performance.

The project’s four new buildings do not replicate Moore and Turnbull’s architecture, but rather engage it in a dialogue that complements its rectilinear, angular language with a more organic one of curvature and porosity. All of the new buildings are sited and designed to minimize the removal of redwood trees by bending around important groves and nestling into the topography.

Ampliación del Kresge College en la Universidad de California por Studio Gang. Fotografía por Jason O’Rear.
Kresge College Expansion at the University of California by Studio Gang. Photograph by Jason O’Rear.

Aligning Kresge’s built structures to work with nature to reduce their carbon footprint is a key component of the expansion project. The redwood canopy, for example, provides shade that reduces cooling loads, and abundant operable windows take advantage of the mild climate to further passive cooling and bring in natural ventilation. To minimize water demand, the design rehabilitates and expands Kresge’s historic runnel system, allowing circulation pathways to work with the site’s topography and ecology to direct, capture, and filter stormwater for reuse. The expansion project’s subtle changes to the original campus buildings, when combined with the newly-designed facilities and amenities, together add up to a significant improvement in environmental performance—as well as a greater appreciation for the original architecture and bold forays into the College’s current and future resilience.

More information

Label
Architects
+ + copy Created with Sketch.
- + copy Created with Sketch.
Label
Collaborators
Text

Sustainability.- Targeting LEED Silver.
Associate Architect.- TEF Design.
Structural Engineer.- Magnussen Klemencic Associates, MME Civil + Structural Engineering.
Landscape Architect.- Joni L. Janecki & Associates, Office of Cheryl Barton.
Civil Engineer.-  Sherwood Design Engineers.
MEP/FP Engineer.- Introba Group.
Sustainability Consultant.- Atelier Ten.
Lighting Consultant.- Horton Lees Brogden Lighting Design.
Wayfinding and Graphics.- Cheng+Snyder.
Quantity Surveyor.- Directional Logic.
Accessibility Consultant.- Jensen Hughes.
Technology Consultant.- TeeCom.

+ + copy Created with Sketch.
- + copy Created with Sketch.
Label
Client
Text

University of California, Santa Cruz.

+ + copy Created with Sketch.
- + copy Created with Sketch.
Label
General Contractor
Text

Swinerton Builders.

+ + copy Created with Sketch.
- + copy Created with Sketch.
Label
Area
Text

Site area.- 32.374 sqm.
Building area.- 11.612 sqm.

+ + copy Created with Sketch.
- + copy Created with Sketch.
Label
Dates
Text

Plan Completed.- 2019.

+ + copy Created with Sketch.
- + copy Created with Sketch.
Label
Location
Text

Santa Cruz, California. USA.

+ + copy Created with Sketch.
- + copy Created with Sketch.
Label
Photography
+ + copy Created with Sketch.
- + copy Created with Sketch.

Studio Gang. Architecture studio founded in 1997 by Jeanne Gang based in Chicago, United States. Today, the studio has offices in New York, San Francisco and Paris.

Committed to the context in their respective cities, Studio Gang's four offices, Chicago, New York, San Francisco and Paris, form a strong design community, connected by shared values ​​and processes.

Using architecture to connect people to each other, their communities and the environment, they collaborate closely with their clients, expert consultants and specialists from a wide range of fields to realize innovative projects at multiple scales: architecture, planning, interior design and exhibitions.

Jeanne Gang. American architect and MacArthur Fellow Jeanne Gang is the founding principal of Studio Gang. Jeanne is recognized internationally for her bold and functional designs that incorporate ecologically friendly technologies in a wide range of striking structures. She has been sought out by numerous organizations to engage her creative approach for mission-oriented architecture and design.

Her signature forward-thinking approach to architectural design through the pursuit of new technical and material possibilities, as well as the expansion of the active role architects have in society, has distinguished her as a leading architect of her generation.

Jeanne and Studio Gang have produced some of today’s most compelling design work, including the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership, the WMS Boathouse at Clark Park, the Nature Boardwalk at Lincoln Park Zoo, and Aqua Tower.

Read more
Published on: October 31, 2024
Cite: "Restore campus spirit. Kresge College Expansion at the University of California by Studio Gang" METALOCUS. Accessed
<https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/restore-campus-spirit-kresge-college-expansion-university-california-studio-gang> ISSN 1139-6415
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...
Loading content ...