School of Medicine Neighborhood Planning Study

Purpose

The School of Medicine (SOM) Neighborhood Planning Study provides a long term plan for the development of the School of Medicine on the southern edge of the University of California, San Diego. The SOM neighborhood encompasses approximately 54 acres on the west campus, bordered by Gilman Drive on the north and west, La Jolla Village Drive on the south, and Villa La Jolla Drive on the east. In addition to the SOM neighborhood area, the neighborhood study also includes a nearby UCSD land parcel (approximately 17 acres) located east of Villa La Jolla Drive and south of the Veterans Administration property.

The School of Medicine was established in 1962 and its site was chosen to encourage close ties with other UCSD programs in the Life and Natural Sciences Academic Corridor. Soon after the establishment of the SOM, the Veterans Administration (VA) constructed a hospital adjacent to the UCSD campus. In addition to its main campus site, the SOM maintains facilities at other locations, properties that are excluded from the scope of neighborhood study; these include the Hillcrest Medical Center, Elliott Field Station and Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO).

The neighborhood plan sets forth the following:

• An approach for preserving significant natural and cultivated features of the landscape.
• Strategies for the replacement of temporary buildings.
• Guidelines for the intensification of land use on currently underutilized sites available for development.
• A framework for the expansion of the neighborhood for new programs.

Goals

The key goals identified for the study is:

• To provide a stronger sense of continuity between the SOM neighborhood and adjacent neighborhoods - especially the East Campus Health Sciences.
• To preserve and enhance the park-like setting at the core of the SOM.
• To provide a convenient, comfortable pedestrian environment and path system.
• To replace surface parking with structure parking to free space for other uses.
• To provide appropriate locations and settings for future facilities.

Program

The SOM consists of academic and research programs and the Biomedical Library. The program includes replacing existing temporary buildings with permanent buildings by expanding the existing academic core of the neighborhood and developing new research facilities at the perimeter of the neighborhood. New programs include pharmaceutical sciences, medical education center, research facilities, academic programs and library expansion. The projected development for the SOM neighborhood is approximately 1,275,000 GSF of existing and new program space. In addition, the neighborhood study accommodated 240 beds for graduate student housing on 2 acres of land and 1,625 parking spaces in structures.

The neighborhood study accommodated the basic program and then tested the site for additional program capacity. The potential build-out determined by the study includes 1,883,000 GSF of existing and new space including academic and research programs, a satellite central plant, and a parking capacity of 2,910 cars in surface and parking structures. Also included is the option to develop 400 beds for graduate housing.

Elements of the Plan

The SOM neighborhood is organized with a series of open space areas and pedestrian connections (see Illustrative Plan). The Plan superimposes a new structure of open spaces and pedestrian paths overlaying the existing network of walkways, roadways and open spaces to create a coherent, unified framework for infix and expansion. Basic Science Walk, a major, east-west walkway strengthens the existing path that connects the Biomedical Library at the west through the Basic Science Building and Medical Teaching Facility to the VA Hospital to the east, across Villa La Jolla Drive. Running north and south are two contrasting spatial sequences: the southern extension of Library Walk and Science Way and the proposed Academic Mall. Science Way is a curving forest walk along the edge of the canyon while the Academic Mall is a more formal series of open spaces and buildings that terminates in a residential court at the south end of the neighborhood. Externally, this framework links the crosswalks and pedestrian bridges, which tie the SOM neighborhood to adjacent neighborhoods. Internally, the framework interconnects and clarifies the neighborhood's diverse open spaces.

The following are key elements of the SOM Neighborhood Planning Study:

• Existing elements to be strengthened include the park-like quadrangles at the northern end of the neighborhood and the walkways, which interconnect them, and the rest of the campus.
• New active plazas have been added to punctuate the more passive green spaces with outdoor programming, such as informal dining.
• New rustic and discrete landscape zones, such as the formal Academic Mall and the informal Science Way edging the canyon have been added to organize and focus different zones of future development.
• New infrastructure, including vehicular drop-offs loops, parking garages and access roads have been added to structure new development.

Design Guidelines

The key elements of the neighborhood plan are reinforced by the design guidelines. A major function of the study is to provide planning and urban design guidelines to:

• Establish a plant palette for landscaped spaces,
• Identify development parcels,
• Define the overall massing of subsequent buildings,
• Define the potential density of site development, and
• Provide general direction for the parallel expansion of infrastructure.

Phasing

A final, critical element of the SOM Neighborhood Planning Study concerns the phasing of development in relation to existing facilities. Phasing defines the supply of parking required as SOM programs expand. The phasing strategy replaces surface parking with parking structures to accommodate the anticipated SOM occupancy. Each phase aims to complete the existing open spaces first, minimizing initial impact on infrastructure and maintaining a compact SOM. Each phase expands further out from the existing academic core of the neighborhood, allowing it to function as much as possible as a complete, consolidated organization of each phase.