UCSD’s Student Housing Project to Offer Below-Market Rate Rental Options

Perkins & Will

Many populations and regions face well-documented housing affordability challenges. For college students, specifically, the lack of options located on or near campus creates an additional hurdle in achieving their higher education goals. The inability to affordably live close to school has a huge impact on their time, performance, expense, and quality of life—not to mention increased output of greenhouse gases. Perkins & Will is partnering with the University of California San Diego (UCSD), which receives the second-largest of number applications of any university, nationwide, to help those students by designing the largest on-campus housing project in the country.

UCSD’s Pepper Canyon West Living and Learning Neighborhood is set to open later this year, adding two iconic towers that will house a total of 1,316 upper-division students. The project is a design-build collaboration with Clark Construction, as the school seeks to implement the best practices of a comprehensive team that can shape and influence the project and meet several critical parameters.

Everyone involved is committed to enhancing the human experience, continuing environmental stewardship, and acknowledging socio-cultural issues. To that end, Pepper Canyon West creates a gateway to UCSD, with pedestrian and bike paths and new shuttle and trolley system stops—all of which activates the previously underused area. The goal is to create an environment where bringing a car to college is optional rather than necessary.

The towers represent the finishing touches on a vibrant neighborhood full of diverse programmatic offerings, including an arts complex, amphitheater, STEM buildings, outdoor space, and retail amenities. To take full advantage of San Diego’s weather, collaboration is pushed outdoors with large terraces and courtyards that connect the community. All units are designed to be identical, allowing for equitable living while also having the quality of traditional multifamily options.

A roughly six-acre (2.43 ha) preserve adjoins the building’s courtyards to create, at the heart of the new neighborhood, a rustic canyon space. It is filled with native plantings, art, walking trails, outdoor study spaces, and extensive stormwater mitigation infrastructure. There are also ground-level retail offerings and student amenities to create an active, vibrant, urban atmosphere. The result is an innovative mixed-use high-rise that connects people to nature and their communities.

Perkins & Will

Below-market rates

For background, San Diego is among the most expensive housing markets in the country. Thus, UCSD must keep up with unprecedented attendance demand and support access to affordable housing. Today, the school ranks third in the nation for on-campus student housing. By 2025, the university will offer housing for more than 22,000 students, thus making it the largest on-campus housing program in the United States. Looking ahead, UCSD has set an ambitious goal of offering housing to 65 percent of all students at below-market rates by the year 2035.

Currently, most of California’s renters, numbering more than 3 million households, pay 30 percent or more of their income toward rent—the same as the average American renter. And nearly a third—more than 1.5 million households—pay more than 50 percent. According to RealPage, the average American student was paying $860 per month for privately owned student housing in 2022, while California students were spending $1,540 for the same accommodations. UCSD’s ultimate goal is to offer a four-year housing guarantee at 20 percent below market rate to ensure an affordable education for all students.

At present, about 32 percent of America’s college students live in campus-owned housing. UCSD has 39 percent of the school’s undergraduate students—and almost half of its graduate students—in its owned housing, and that percentage is growing. The university is invested in the holistic student experience, providing access to a quality education, and doing what it can to lower costs. Housing is near the center of its mission.

Biophilic design

An important consideration for any development is the impact of its design on the environment—externally and for end users. Biophilic design was considered and implemented throughout Pepper Canyon West. The project’s overall façade design was inspired by the native canyon trees, which are prominent in Pepper Canyon and throughout the campus, whereas its window-to-wall ratio gives the north tower façade 42 percent vision, and the south tower façade 37 percent vision, effectively reducing solar heat gain while retaining the overall aesthetic.

Pepper Canyon West’s welcome lounges also reflect the nearby canyon’s volumetric “curves” through a series of smaller spaces, offering students opportunities to be in groups or alone, while still being part of the greater space. The use of wood paneling further connects to the canyon to create a warm, inviting entrance to the buildings.

UCSD is providing an example of how to increase access to higher education by creating enough housing to meet student demand.

Forward-looking developers have fully embraced the idea that, regardless of a structure’s intended use, they must differentiate on the quality of the tenant experience, increase access to meaningful amenities, and provide demonstrable environmental stewardship.

These shifts have moved the market in a more competitive and innovative direction. The work is driven by broader goals that create a sense of place and ultimately meet the needs of the society in which they arise. Projects such as Pepper Canyon West are paving the way for change by addressing real-world problems and by going above and beyond to make the world a healthier and happier place.