Scaling up a sustainable campus

The University of California, Merced is the youngest campus in the UC system and the first North American research university to be established in the 21st century. Its mission is to cultivate a community bound by learning, discovery, and engagement, while also celebrating the heritage of the San Joaquin Valley and playing an important role in the region’s future.

For decades, SOM has played a pivotal role in shaping the campus, fostering a strong relationship with the university to define its physical identity and campus experience. SOM’s contributions reflect a strong commitment to land stewardship, realized through high-performance buildings designed for sustainability and energy efficiency.

After designing the university’s original master plan in the early 2000s—including the library and central utility plant—SOM was commissioned as master architect for the 2020 Project: an ambitious public-private partnership that significantly expanded the campus, nearly doubling its size to accommodate 10,000 students by 2020. The expansion project encompasses a new campus plan, design guidelines, infrastructure upgrades, enhanced open spaces, and 11 new buildings—including state-of-the-art research facilities, laboratories, a greenhouse, and a dining hall—designed by a team of architects, including SOM.

Designed to adapt for different uses and future expansion, the master plan and 2020 Project organizes the campus as a compact, walkable environment with dynamic public spaces. The university is the first public research institution in the U.S. to achieve carbon neutrality and the only academic campus to have every building LEED certified, with all 2020 Project buildings earning LEED Platinum certification.

A world-class university for California’s Central Valley

Located in California’s agrarian heartland, the University of California, Merced is a part of the expansive San Joaquin Valley—a pillar of California’s economy as one the most productive agricultural regions in the world. However, students lacked local access to a world-class university. Founded to meet a growing demand in the region, its students come from all over California, with approximately one-third hailing from the San Joaquin Valley. These are precisely the students who, without UC Merced, might have left the San Joaquin Valley in search of other opportunities.

UC Merced seized a unique opportunity to build from the ground up, setting a new standard for what a California university campus could become. Since 2005, when the first undergraduates arrived on campus, the university has worked to expand equity and access to California’s renowned public UC system. Among all UC campuses, Merced has the highest percentage of students from underrepresented ethnic groups and low-income families. More than half are Latino, including some who are the children of migrant farm workers. Sixty-seven percent of students are the first in their families to pursue higher education.

The power of public-private partnership

The scale of the 2020 Project, a $1.2 billion investment, is unprecedented. With 11 new university buildings constructed in just four years, it demonstrates how public-private partnerships can make it possible for major infrastructure investments to be financed and delivered in record time.

The 2020 Project was delivered through Plenary Properties Merced, with SOM as the campus planner and master plan architect. The project team includes Webcor as design-build contractor, along with WRNS, Page, Mahlum, HOK, Arup, Atelier Ten, Hargreaves Associates, Cliff Lowe Associates, Interface Engineering, and Sherwood Design Engineers.

Laying the groundwork: The first master plan

Selected to design the original campus master plan, completed in 2002, SOM worked with the new institution to define its architectural identity. The team designed some of the first buildings and established the guidelines that would inform a common architectural language as the campus grew, with a focus on creating a sense of place authentic to the region.

From the beginning, UC Merced set out to redefine the research university for the 21st century, establishing an ambitious agenda to tackle urgent environmental challenges. Stewardship of the environment is embedded into every aspect of the university, starting with its design, construction, and operation. Beyond reducing carbon emissions, the university set the goal of achieving “Triple Net Zero”: to ultimately produce as much power as it uses, create zero landfill waste, and achieve climate neutrality.

Much of the architecture at UC Merced incorporates passive design strategies to reduce energy needs, including projecting sun screens, expansive overhangs, and building orientations that shield interiors from direct sunlight. Open-air arcades provide shaded areas for students to congregate. The use of simple materials and unadorned surfaces, such as poured concrete and corrugated metal, show that sustainable design can be contextual, beautiful, and cost-effective.

A central plant where students learn

Planning the infrastructure from the ground up, the team spotted a significant opportunity with the Central Plant, which delivers power and water to the campus. As the backbone of UC Merced’s energy system and one of the campus’s first structures, it features a 2-million-gallon thermal tank system designed for efficient water storage and cooling. A facility like this would usually be tucked away, but here the plant is located near the heart of campus, with a perforated metal facade that reveals its inner workings. This allows the plant to serve as a “living laboratory” for environmental science students, and as a highly visible example of the campus’s sustainable infrastructure.

A library built for flexibility

Designed by SOM, the Leo and Dottie Kolligian Library was one of the first academic buildings on campus. From the outset, it was intended to accommodate a range of functions including academic offices, administration, information technology, classrooms, and student services. As additional buildings were constructed to fill these roles, the library was seamlessly reconfigured, expanding its dedicated areas for study and research.

Designed as the gateway to the campus, the structure features a V-shaped plan with two wings connected by a taller “core” building that contains an atrium and a reading room. SOM employed several sun-mitigation strategies to reduce heat while preserving views of the campus and surrounding landscape. The building is oriented north-south, featuring deep-set, shaded facades. Operable garage doors, loggias, and arcades provide an extended “campus living room” and invite students to work and congregate outdoors. In the evening, the building’s louvers reflect light and transform the building into a glowing lantern.

Expanding the campus and reinforcing a sense of place

SOM’s planning work for UC Merced’s 2020 campus expansion project builds on the principles of sustainability and flexibility established in the first master plan. Clusters of four- and five-story buildings create an “urban street experience” at the heart of campus, while remaining rooted in the distinct character of the San Joaquin Valley. Buildings are arranged into zones of higher density, while natural areas, such as a wetlands zone near the campus, remain open and protected from development.

Another defining feature of UC Merced’s campus planning strategy is that each new building is designed to serve multiple functions. Classrooms are layered into every building, from residence halls to research facilities.

The Pavilion, a new social hub

A new dining hall, completed as part of the 2020 Project, has become a popular gathering place on campus. With its open plan, circulation strategies, and transparent character, the Pavilion provides a socially focused culinary environment.

Drawing inspiration from the San Joaquin Valley’s vernacular agricultural buildings, the Pavilion bridges past and present, using simple, modern materials and an expressive structure to create a dynamic indoor-outdoor dining experience. The open, light-filled interiors are designed for the evolving needs of the campus, with flexible seating that transforms over the course of a day—from community dining to lectures, dances, and concerts.

The building is inspired by the form of simple, durable agricultural sheds found throughout the region. Its roof collects rainwater, allowing for increased water conservation through stormwater harvesting in response to the region’s hot, arid summers and mild, rainy winters. This high-efficiency, low-waste building is certified LEED Platinum.

A research lab that advances sustainability

The Sustainability Research and Engineering Building is where students and faculty are advancing UC Merced’s climate-focused mission. With classrooms next to research labs on every floor, the layout cultivates an environment for serendipitous discoveries.

Open office areas and circulation located at the building perimeter maximize daylight and sweeping natural views through to the laboratory blocks at the interior of the building. Areas for meeting, informal gathering, and circulation promote interaction between students, researchers, and academic departments, fostering community within a dynamic learning environment.

To maximize flexibility, both wet and dry laboratories are organized into modules and set within a standard structural grid, which enables them to be customized and reconfigured over time for an evolving curriculum. A central chemical storage and distribution facility, designed to support science buildings campus-wide, is located in the basement of the building adjacent to the loading dock.

A south-facing arcade along the length of the quad creates a protected circulation path and a shaded gathering area directly outside the ground floor classrooms. Within the arcade, a pedestrian-permeable glass wall encourages passage between classrooms, collaboration spaces, and the quad, seamlessly connecting interior and exterior gathering spaces for students and staff.

Using strategic roof overhangs and wall extensions to reduce solar heat gain, along with efficient lighting and mechanical systems, the LEED Platinum-certified building is designed to support the university’s triple net zero goal.