Date Posted: 01.26.2018
Contract
Winners of the Contract magazine 39th Annual Interiors Awards were announced this morning in New York, celebrating great design in 15 project categories. University of California, Irvine (UCI) Mesa Court Towers received the Education Award.
The 2018 awards jury remarked, “This exemplary project demonstrates that design excellence can be achieved within the challenging and constrained residence hall typology. The project melds midrise tower density with communal and shared spaces that connect to the neighborhood and campus.”
The current issue of Contract features an article about Mesa Court Towers’ design and amenities tailored to support the wellness and interests of today’s students. Key features of the living-learning community include the health-focused dining center that is open 16 hours per day, multi-purpose lounges with communal kitchens and strong indoor-outdoor connection building-wide.
“The students we polled told us that they wanted multiple dining options with an emphasis on freshness, more like a farmers’ market than a cafeteria,” says Elizabeth MacPherson, a principal at Mithun who led the interior design team. “There are seven different stations, fresh fruit in baskets, demonstration cooking, and a diversity of seating options inside and out.”
“We’re competing for top undergraduate and graduate students, so amenities and the quality of the living environments are crucial,” says UCI Campus Architect Brian Pratt. “The success of Mesa Court Towers gave us the confidence to move ahead with another version of this project [UCI Middle Earth Expansion], also designed by Mithun.”
Read the full article in Contract, “Interiors Awards 2018: Education.”
