“Students no longer take three scheduled meals a day, preceded or followed by concentrated periods of study,” says Jim Favaro, Principle Architect of UCLA’s new Hedrick Study project. “Young people today want the option of taking meals and studying in fragments of time throughout the day and night.”
It is this idea that drove the design of the Hedrick Study, a modern hybrid of library, lounge, and dining hall on the UCLA campus. The Johnson Favaro-designed space took an existing 22,000-sf food-court-style kitchen and cafeteria in Hedrick and turned it into a more suitable 24-hour space.
The original kitchen was updated to service all of UCLA’s west campus residences. The remaining 11,000-sf was renovated to include a European-style food hall, a fireplace lounge, a large central reading room, and a quiet study room. Naturally lit lounges and smaller study areas surround all the main areas.
Photo Credit: John Ellis.
The central reading room has a custom-printed sunset ceiling and allows students to observe surrounding activity through wall openings while remaining acoustically isolated and conducive to individual study. The separate, midnight-blue quiet study room continues the theme created with the central reading room’s sunset ceiling through the use of a NASA photograph of the universe on the ceiling. On the north side of the central reading room, wrapped in full height black chalkboard walls, is the fireside lounge.
On the east side of the reading room is the main lounge. Modeled after a hotel lobby, the main lounge faces out onto gardens and provides group seating, individual seating, reading tables, and study carrels. Group study rooms are located along the south wall. The west side of the reading room has three 20-foot-long community tables at bar height.
The space is the result of an amalgamation of design inspirations: hipster hotels, steampunk, and the maker movement; traditional university libraries like UCLA’s Powell Library an Harvard’s Widener; and the Italian rosticceria, French boulangerie, English pub, and American delicatessen.
Related Stories
| Feb 1, 2012
Two new research buildings dedicated at the University of South Carolina
The two buildings add 208,000 square feet of collaborative research space to the campus.
| Jan 31, 2012
Fusion Facilities: 8 reasons to consolidate multiple functions under one roof
‘Fusing’ multiple functions into a single building can make it greater than the sum of its parts. The first in a series on the design and construction of university facilities.
| Jan 27, 2012
BRB Architects designs new campus center for Molloy College
Intended to be the centerpiece of the College’s transformation from a commuter college to a 24-hour learning community, the “Public Square” will support student life with spaces such as a café, lounges, study rooms, student club space, a bookstore and an art gallery.
| Jan 19, 2012
BOKA Powell-designed facility at Texas A&M Bryan campus
The new facility provides programs for the Texas A&M Health Science Center, the Texas Brain and Spine Institute, Mary Crowley Cancer Research Centers, and Blinn College Allied Health programs.
| Jan 4, 2012
Shawmut Design & Construction awarded dorm renovations at Brown University
Construction is scheduled to begin in June 2012, and will be completed by December 2012.
| Jan 3, 2012
New Chicago hospital prepared for pandemic, CBR terror threat
At a cost of $654 million, the 14-story, 830,000-sf medical center, designed by a Perkins+Will team led by design principal Ralph Johnson, FAIA, LEED AP, is distinguished in its ability to handle disasters.
| Dec 20, 2011
Gluckman Mayner Architects releases design for Syracuse law building
The design reflects an organizational clarity and professional sophistication that anticipates the user experience of students, faculty, and visitors alike.
| Dec 19, 2011
HGA renovates Rowing Center at Cornell University
Renovation provides state-of-the-art waterfront facility.
| Dec 16, 2011
Goody Clancy-designed Informatics Building dedicated at Northern Kentucky University
The sustainable building solution, built for approximately $255-sf, features innovative materials and intelligent building systems that align with the mission of integration and collaboration.
| Dec 5, 2011
Fraser Brown MacKenna wins Green Gown Award
Working closely with staff at Queen Mary University of London, MEP Engineers Mott MacDonald, Cost Consultants Burnley Wilson Fish and main contractor Charter Construction, we developed a three-fold solution for the sustainable retrofit of the building.