UC Santa BARBARA housing 

ISLA VISTA, CA

This project involved exploring the use of campus land between the university and the city of Isla Vista to address its long term housing issues: older buildings in poor shape, and a lack of affordability given the lack of alternatives. Students drive most of the housing demand and the university continues to grow. Parking is also a problem.

The proposed plan created a new street lined with mixed-use, low rise multifamily buildings (retail at ground level, housing above). Parking was allocated based on low ratios for student housing and the needs of commercial spaces. The configuration of the street used traffic calming measures common to the Dutch woonerf concept, to ensure pedestrian orientation and safety.

Brian Jennett completed this effort during his master's program (2000); the project remains unbuilt, although the issues remain. Some new housing has been built in the vicinity of the project, but using a less urban configuration (garden style apartments). As the problem remains and indeed, has gotten worse, a number of increasingly radical proposals have been put forth, but to date there has been no resolution. It is worth noting that plans developed by the university did follow many of the recommendations made here in terms of where some of its new housing should be located (along a relocated Ocean Avenue), but such plans have always remained fairly conservative in terms of the density of development proposed.