ZGF's Aggie Square development at UC Davis takes a step forward

2020-07-09T17:46:00-04:00

The first phase of a new ZGF-designed innovation district slated for the University of California, Davis campus has taken a step forward.

The 1.2 million-square-foot development will span 8.25 acres and is set to include 200 housing units, 500,000 square feet of science, technology and engineering spaces, 250,000 square feet of classroom and coworking facilities, and 30,000 square feet of commercial uses, all spread out across four buildings.

View of the new buildings surrounding Aggie Square.

For the private-public partnership project, coordinated between the university and developers Wexford Science & Technology, ZGF has designed a series modulated glass-wrapped mid-rise towers surrounding the development's namesake plaza. The buildings offer porous connections to the tree-filled plaza space, and feature arcades and ground floor commercial spaces.

The district is designed specifically to "co-locate private industry investment, robust 'innovation infrastructure' for startups, as w...

SO-IL's new museum for UC Davis: "a building to boost your faith in the future of American architecture"

2016-12-08T13:28:00-05:00

The museum is not a singular or path-breaking work of architecture; its design goals have more to do with manipulating light and shadow and with physical substance [...] Yet taken as a whole the museum offers a range of encouraging signs about the priorities of architecture’s up-and-coming generation. These include a genuine interest in shifting definitions of public space in a digital age and — most important of all — a preference for measured and layered effects over operatic ones.

UC Davis' new Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of art opened in November, and will function as a teaching museum with spaces for studios, galleries, and classrooms, including a courtyard for performances and installations.

According to Hawthorne, SO-IL's design (done in collaboration Karl Backus of Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, an SF-based firm known for its multiple Apple stores), "flows primarily from [SO-IL leaders] Idenburg, 42, and Liu, 37, whose work tends to be porous and substantial at the same time, with cubic forms often cloaked or veiled by snug, semi-transparent skins." Hawthorne also refers back to SO-IL's YAP-winning "Pole Dance", as a tone-setter for the firm's aesthetic.

Check out Iwan Baan's photos of the museum below.

Get the backsotry on SO-IL and the Shrem museum here:

Archinect - News

ZGF's Aggie Square development at UC Davis takes a step forward

SO-IL's new museum for UC Davis: "a building to boost your faith in the future of American architecture"