Mesa College Commons Café & Bookstore

LOCATION:

San Diego, CA

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

Through the strategic master planning process, College leadership determined a central campus hub was needed to help meet its main objective—encourage social engagement and academic commitment of its diverse student population. As part of the San Diego CCD Master Plan, the Mesa College Commons facility, including a new Café and Bookstore, is encompassed by two new courtyards, one dedicated to outdoor dining and another for students being picked up from a loop road “Kiss and Ride” pull out. This courtyard surrounds a small café and is intended to provide a safe, serene environment for students to wait for a ride or pass the time before their next class. Targeting LEED Silver certification and keeping with the District’s Green Building Policy, we selected native, drought-tolerant plants throughout and designed an organic rooftop kitchen garden with a cistern irrigation system for the second floor culinary program. The remaining gardens are fed by the HVAC condensate water from the facilities cooling systems – a first for community college campuses in San Diego. All irrigation water comes from the site drawing no supplemental water for the city’s domestic water supply. Click here to read our case study about Mesa College Commons’ sustainable features.

Project Award: ULI San Diego Tijuana Healthy Places