This UCLA housing complex project includes a new Hitch Commons Building and renovation of the Hitch Suites student residences, which were long overdue for an upgrade to address the accessibility, life-safety, and seismic deficiencies of the aging buildings.

The existing Commons Building was completely replaced with a new two-story, 4,700-square-foot Commons Building consisting of a student kitchen, laundry facilities, administration offices, and plenty of open, shared spaces for students to study and connect with each other. The Commons Building achieved LEED Platinum Certification and won a Community Impact Award for Housing at the 2015 Los Angeles Architectural Awards from the Los Angeles Business Council.

At 75,000 square feet, the Hitch Suites student residence project is composed of four buildings, each three-stories high with a total of 81 units and lodge 380 students in total. Each suite in the complex consists two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a living room. Hitch Suites also achieved LEED Platinum.

Sustainable building design strategies Glumac’s MEP engineering team included in the projects were an energy-efficient VRF heat pump system for the Commons Building with demand control ventilation, the replacement of all plumbing fixtures with low-flow fixtures, a new high-efficiency electrical transformer, occupancy sensors to replace standard light switches and light harvesting through the use of photocells in the Commons Building.

Size: 75,000-square-foot Suites; 4,700-square-foot
Completion Date: 2013
Cost: $18 million
Architect: Steinberg Architects
Services: MEP Engineering, Energy Analysis

Images courtesy of Tim Griffith