2024 California Best Projects
Excellence in Sustainability, Award of Merit, Higher Ed/Research: University of California, Riverside School of Medicine Education Building II

Photo by Bill Timmerman
University of California, Riverside School of Medicine Education Building II
Riverside, Calif.
EXCELLENCE IN SUSTAINABILITY and Award of Merit, Higher Education/Research
Submitted by: Hensel Phelps
Owner: University of California, Riverside
Lead Design Firm: CO Architects
General Contractor: Hensel Phelps
Civil Engineer: Albert A. Webb Associates
Structural Engineer: Thornton Tomasetti
MEP Engineer: P2S Inc.
Geotechnical Engineer: Langan
Subcontractors: A.O. Reed & Co.; CSI Electrical Contractors; Pan Pacific Mechanical; Standard Drywall Inc.; Triumph Painting
Featuring a wide range of team-based student learning spaces, social spaces and departmental offices for faculty and staff, the $87.4-million Education Building II (EDII) is a strategically located, highly visible structure on campus that creates a new home for the medical school.
This 90,000-sq-ft, five-story building features a flexible and adaptable design to respond to growth as needs change in the future. Completed in August 2023, the building is organized with all the highest activity and student-centric learning spaces on the first three floors, with administration and shared functions on the upper two floors.
The EDII was designed with long-term effectiveness in mind to ensure it will remain fully functional for generations to come while minimizing its carbon footprint. Powered by a 200-kW rooftop solar array, this soon-to-be LEED Platinum building uses transparency and shading to optimize passive elements of light, prevailing breezes and solar heat gain. The interiors and exteriors utilize durable, easy-to-maintain and sustainable building materials that promote healthy interior air quality.
A critical portion of the scope included relocating a large existing electrical yard within the footprint of where the new EDII building was to be built. This included multiple high voltage four-way switches, 12-kV high voltage circuits, a 2.5-MW generator, a 75-kV and 1500-kVA transformer, a 500-kW generator and a 12-kV switchgear substation.
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