“Students no longer take three scheduled meals a day, preceded or followed by concentrated periods of study,” says Jim Favaro, Principle Architect of UCLA’s new Hedrick Study project. “Young people today want the option of taking meals and studying in fragments of time throughout the day and night.”
It is this idea that drove the design of the Hedrick Study, a modern hybrid of library, lounge, and dining hall on the UCLA campus. The Johnson Favaro-designed space took an existing 22,000-sf food-court-style kitchen and cafeteria in Hedrick and turned it into a more suitable 24-hour space.
The original kitchen was updated to service all of UCLA’s west campus residences. The remaining 11,000-sf was renovated to include a European-style food hall, a fireplace lounge, a large central reading room, and a quiet study room. Naturally lit lounges and smaller study areas surround all the main areas.
Photo Credit: John Ellis.
The central reading room has a custom-printed sunset ceiling and allows students to observe surrounding activity through wall openings while remaining acoustically isolated and conducive to individual study. The separate, midnight-blue quiet study room continues the theme created with the central reading room’s sunset ceiling through the use of a NASA photograph of the universe on the ceiling. On the north side of the central reading room, wrapped in full height black chalkboard walls, is the fireside lounge.
On the east side of the reading room is the main lounge. Modeled after a hotel lobby, the main lounge faces out onto gardens and provides group seating, individual seating, reading tables, and study carrels. Group study rooms are located along the south wall. The west side of the reading room has three 20-foot-long community tables at bar height.
The space is the result of an amalgamation of design inspirations: hipster hotels, steampunk, and the maker movement; traditional university libraries like UCLA’s Powell Library an Harvard’s Widener; and the Italian rosticceria, French boulangerie, English pub, and American delicatessen.
Related Stories
Museums | May 31, 2022
University of Texas at Dallas breaks ground on new 12-acre cultural district
The University of Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas) recently broke ground on the Crow Museum of Asian Art, the first phase of a new 12-acre cultural district on campus.
Building Team | May 20, 2022
Caltech breaks ground on a new center to study climate and sustainability
The California Institute of Technology (Caltech) recently broke ground on its Resnick Sustainability Resource Center.
Laboratories | May 20, 2022
Brutalist former Berkeley Art Museum transformed into modern life science lab
After extensive renovation and an addition, the former Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive at the University of California, Berkeley campus reopened in May 2022 as a modern life science lab building.
Sports and Recreational Facilities | May 19, 2022
Northern Arizona University opens a new training center for its student athletes
In Flagstaff, Ariz. Northern Arizona University (NAU) has opened its new Student-Athlete High Performance Center.
University Buildings | May 16, 2022
Yale’s newly renovated Schwarzman Center enriches student campus social life
Robert A.M. Stern Architects (RAMSA) recently unveiled the design of their restoration of the Schwarzman Center at Yale University, which includes dining spaces, a bar, and a food shop.
School Construction | May 11, 2022
New Digital Learning Commons at Rutgers supports doctoral programs in over 16 disciplines
The new Digital Learning Commons at the Rutgers University Archibald S. Alexander Library provides students in over 16 courses of study and four professional schools with spacious collaborative and study space.
Sponsored | BD+C University Course | May 10, 2022
Designing smarter places of learning
This course explains the how structural steel building systems are suited to construction of education facilities.
Performing Arts Centers | May 10, 2022
A historic performance space is transformed to reinforce a campus’ Arts District
Connecticut College’s Athey Center for Performance and Research at Palmer Auditorium balances the old and new.
University Buildings | May 9, 2022
An athletic center accentuates a college’s transformation
Modern design and a student health center distinguish the new addition at The University of Saint Joseph in Connecticut.
Sponsored | BD+C University Course | May 3, 2022
For glass openings, how big is too big?
Advances in glazing materials and glass building systems offer a seemingly unlimited horizon for not only glass performance, but also for the size and extent of these light, transparent forms. Both for enclosures and for indoor environments, novel products and assemblies allow for more glass and less opaque structure—often in places that previously limited their use.