“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
University Buildings | Dec 12, 2018
New Life Science Building at University of Washington designed for the next generation of research and teaching
Perkins+Will designed the facility.
University Buildings | Dec 10, 2018
Suffolk breaks ground on large housing/dining complex for UMass Dartmouth
This is the first phase of a large construction/renovation plan for the school’s main campus.
University Buildings | Nov 26, 2018
Vacant Dartmouth College building to become faculty and graduate student center
Leers Weinzapfel Associates designed the project.
Mixed-Use | Oct 25, 2018
Philadelphia’s uCity Square kicks off major expansion drive
This innovation center has several office, lab, and residential buildings in the works.
University Buildings | Oct 23, 2018
A building designed by architects, for architects
Kansas State University’s new College of Architecture Planning and Design places students at the center of the experience.
University Buildings | Oct 17, 2018
The Rhode Island School of Design receives its first new residence building in 30 years
The building was designed by a former RISD student.
University Buildings | Oct 11, 2018
Chapman University opens new science and engineering center
AC Martin designed the building.
University Buildings | Oct 8, 2018
One size doesn't fit all: Student housing is not a pair of socks
While the programming and design for these buildings all kept a holistic living/learning experience at the core, they also had amazingly different outcomes.
University Buildings | Sep 6, 2018
Construction begins on North Carolina State University’s new engineering building
Skanska is building the facility.
University Buildings | Sep 4, 2018
Rutgers University Welcome Center creates branded experience for visitors and prospective students
JZA+D designed the space.
