UC Law San Francisco’s newest building provides student housing at below-market rental rates

Located in San Francisco’s Tenderloin and Civic Center neighborhoods, UC Law SF’s newest building helps address the city’s housing crisis by providing student housing at below-market rental rates. The $282 million, 365,000-sf facility at 198 McAllister Street enables students to live on campus while also helping to regenerate the neighborhood.

Designed by Perkins&Will’s San Francisco and Boston studios and developed by Greystar, the 656-unit Academe at 198 is the latest addition to UC Law’s Academic Village. The student apartments are mostly efficiencies and studios, while group study rooms allow students to come together outside their own rooms.

In addition to residences for graduate students and faculty, the Academe at 198 offers common spaces, academic classrooms, and food and retail options. The student housing building also has two courtrooms for students to practice law in the same physical layout they’ll find in the real world.

The building façade’s texture suggests the verticality and relief of the columns of a courthouse. The residential block’s organization exposes the interior life to sunlight and sky, while at the same time sharing the building’s activity with the surrounding neighborhood.

Student housing development offers ‘calm oasis’

As a counterpoint to the urban lobby, the courtyard provides students a calm oasis that’s isolated from the street. The courtyard’s blue shades transition from darker at the top to lighter at the bottom, which makes the garden feel brighter.

The LexLab, an innovation hub for connecting with local tech companies, overlooks the lobby atrium. Photo: Bruce Damonte, courtesy Perkins&Will

The LexLab, an innovation hub for connecting with local tech companies, is both a workspace and event space and overlooks the lobby atrium. On the seventh floor, the Skyline Lounge is open to both residents and the larger academic community. The lounge and terrace are situated at the roof level of the neighboring buildings.

Perkins&Will describes the project as “a multi-disciplinary hub for education and community living in the heart of San Francisco. The project embodies an innovative approach to housing for multi-disciplinary learners with intentional placemaking, and is a transformative investment intended to catalyze growth by providing an affordable place to live in an economically challenged community.”

On the Building Team:
Owner: UC Law SF
Developer: Greystar
Architect: Perkins&Will
Civil engineering: Langan
MEP engineering: Taylor Engineers / The Engineering Enterprise
Structural engineering: Rutherford + Chekene
Contractor: Build Group