Living and Learning Neighborhood Opens at UC San Diego

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This story originally appeared in the winter 2025 issue of UC San Diego Magazine as “Community Builder.”

Just west of Geisel Library, adjacent to a beloved open space preserve, a series of earth-toned buildings are part of a new collaborative neighborhood with undergraduate student housing, vibrant indoor and outdoor spaces, and modern academic facilities. Ridge Walk North Living and Learning Neighborhood is the latest offering in UC San Diego’s transformative campus expansion. 

Ridge Walk North has capacity for 2,400 undergraduate students in a residential environment designed to support both academic success and personal well-being. Students live in modern suites with shared kitchens, living rooms and bathrooms — an arrangement common in UC San Diego’s newest housing. The buildings also feature a fitness and wellness center, study lounges, coworking areas, a café and marketplace, and the second location of the Triton Esports Center. 

In early 2026, the Glass Center will open, inviting students, staff, faculty and the public to explore their creative side with classes in glass blowing, kiln forming and cold working. The Paul Stankard and David Graeber Flamework Studio is made possible through the generosity of School of Biological Sciences alumna Wendy W. Kwok ’99 and is named in honor of the two renowned artists.

The neighborhood will also provide new administrative and instructional spaces for Thurgood Marshall College and the School of Global Policy and Strategy. The Department of Economics, part of the School of Social Sciences, will have a new home in Brian C. Malk Hall. Classroom space in Ridge Walk North includes 19 general assignment rooms and a 130-seat lecture hall. The new classrooms are designed for flexible learning setups to support contemporary, collaborative teaching methods. These instructional spaces play a key role in the neighborhood’s broader mission to enhance student learning through a mix of indoor and outdoor collaboration zones and dedicated areas for individual study.  

Both the residential and academic buildings aim to earn a Gold Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building Rating System designation. Incorporating LEED principles is standard for all new construction at UC San Diego. The buildings incorporate features that reduce solar heat, increase natural ventilation and maximize natural daylight. 

In the past decade, 10,000 beds have been added at UC San Diego, including the Theatre District and Pepper Canyon West Living and Learning neighborhoods that opened in 2024. This growth was driven, in part, by a 2015 state mandate to increase University of California enrollment, which resulted in UC San Diego experiencing the largest undergraduate growth in the UC system because of its large campus and capacity for the development of new buildings. In addition, the Ridge Walk North construction supports the chancellor’s goal of housing approximately 50% of all undergraduate students by the end of 2025 for at least two years at rents that are 20% below market.

By integrating student housing among community and learning spaces at Ridge Walk North, UC San Diego has created an environment where students can thrive socially and academically.  

Learn more at plandesignbuild.ucsd.edu.