About UC Davis West Village

Location: Davis, California
Developer: West Village Community Partnership LLC
Design and consultant team: Studio E Architects, MVE Institutional, Lim Chang Rohling Assoc, Moore Rubell Yudell, SWA Group, Cunningham Engineering
Size: 130 acres

UC Davis West Village is a mixed-use neighborhood that is also the first planned net-zero-energy community, demonstrating planning for environmental sustainability at the community scale.

West Village focuses particularly on three key principles of community, environmental responsiveness, and place making.

More than just housing, West Village is a thriving community that includes commercial space, educational facilities, and recreational amenities. With a network of greenbelts, bike lanes, and shuttle service, the village connects to the surrounding neighborhood and core campus facilities. Environmentally, West Village has demonstrated sustainable living through design. Net-zero energy rethinks both energy demand and supply. On the demand side, the buildings are designed to consume 50 percent less energy than California building code standards. On the supply side, the buildings operate on a four-megawatt photovoltaic system, which is designed to meet the annual energy consumption for the apartment uses.

Design details were carefully considered to create quality of place. Buildings are oriented for optimal solar control and access to cooling breezes. Spaces in the community include a 16,000-square-foot student recreation center, the first community college center to be hosted on a University of California campus, and the first uHub, a university innovation center designed to spur connections between campus research and entrepreneurs. West Village provides sustainable housing and spaces for innovation − ingredients needed to grow a creative community.