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UCI Developing $98M Student Housing Facility
The University of California, Irvine (UCI) moved forward on the second phase of its campus undergraduate student housing program. The design-build team of Hensel Phelps and Mithun is developing UCI Middle Earth Expansion, a $98-million, 215,000-square-foot project.
The project, named after where Hobbits live in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, consists of two phases. The initial phase includes a new student housing building on a site where two existing buildings will be demolished, and a second phase that includes the renovation of Pippin Commons. The project will house roughly 494 students, and include a new dining facility, along with amenity and classroom spaces.
The project’s design is influenced by local ecology and landscape. Two five-story residential towers rise from a two-story podium base that echoes the natural form of the region’s limestone canyons. A “Link Lounge” contains space for socializing, media viewing, group kitchen activities and laundry facilities.
For comments, questions or concerns, please contact Dennis Kaiser
- ◦Development


