...also will permit views and allow penetration of natural light. "Sustainability has been used to guide building design [and] coordinate buildings," says Ellen Lou, director of urban design and planning at SOM, San Francisco. It was campus master planner and also library architect, along with Fernau & Hartman, Berkeley.

Down to the Wire

At the beginning of the fall semester, housing will be ready for occupancy and the central plant will be fully operational. Most of the library and portions of the classroom facility will be open and ready for student use, but the science and engineering building won’t be done until late 2005. Because these initial academic buildings are sized for 5,000 students, classes will be able to get under way with just partial facilities, says Desrochers.

University officials and contractors point to a heated labor market and escalation in materials prices as the biggest factors contributing to the staggered delivery of the buildings. Many projects were bid during the steel price crisis, but were budgeted two and three years before, points out Steve Johnson, operations manager for the Oakland office of Swinerton Inc. The firm is contractor for the central plant, site infrastructure, the library and the classroom building. "Our timing was really unfortunate," says Jim Smith, campus architect.

Many projects required extensive value engineering and rebidding. This cost-cutting process was made even more challenging by the administration’s commitment to LEED. Elements integral to a project’s silver status could not be eliminated or substituted, says Sacramento-based David Parkes, senior vice president with Flintco Cos., the science and engineering building’s contractor. "It was clear that LEED was a very import driver for the campus," he says.

Hughes-Doyle points out that hidden elements, such as mechanical systems, are often prime targets of value engineering. At Merced, however, building systems are vital to performance and LEED goals. Instead, finishes were sacrificed. "The buildings are not the most architecturally ornate," she says. But "the mechanical systems were preserved."

Campus Quadrangle. First phase academic buildings define UC-Merced’s main public space.

Desrochers estimates the premium paid to meet the campus’ performance targets and LEED requirements at about 3%. "Our big advantage is that we had the [LEED] goal from the beginning." Deciding to pursue certification late in design can be costly, she says.

Creating a campus from scratch brings unique challenges. "We really didn’t have a client" because faculty had not yet been hired, says Kacey Jurgens, principal of the classroom building’s design firm, Thomas Hacker Architects Inc., Portland, Ore.

The university appointed surrogate faculty members from other UC campuses to work with the architects. The surrogate process "definitely helped, but it was not ideal. We are used to working with specific users with specific needs," says David Hurley, project manager for the science and engineering building with San Francisco-based EHDD Architecture. "We kept having to remind ourselves that these are general buildings," he says. After they "are up and operating, the buildings will take on a life of their own."

(Photos by Michael Goodman for ENR)