UC Irvine Middle Earth Housing Expansion

The University of California (UC), Irvine’s Middle Earth housing and student-life center opened in 2019 and features 495 student beds in two residential towers above a mixed-use podium. The two-story podium featuring amenity space for student interaction, multi-purpose classrooms, a new headquarters for the university’s housing administration, and a 750 seat dining facility provided to serve the entire campus population with 7,300 meals daily. The $130M, 215,000 sf Middle Earth Housing Expansion provides a central location for residential accommodations, dining, learning, and amenity spaces along the central campus Ring Road, achieved a LEED Platinum rating and has been recognized with multiple DBIA awards.

Coffman was proud to support the Hensel Phelps and Mithun design-build team by providing fire protection engineering and life safety consulting. Services for the project included: reviews for code compliance, negotiating complex building, and fire code issues with the UCI Campus Fire Marshal and coordination of fire protection systems.

Photo Credit: Mithun