UC Davis West Village | Davis USA | SWA Group


UC Davis West Village is a new 222-acre development in Davis, California that responds to a substantial growth in the number of students, faculty and staff living on the University’s campus. The city of Davis is a unique and cherished community, and great care was taken throughout the design and planning process to pay homage to its history and culture.


The needs for the expanding University include housing for approximately 2,000 students and 350 members of the faculty and staff, as well as a mixed-use retail area, extensive parks and an open space network. SWA’s concept focuses on three key principals: housing affordability, quality of place, and environmental responsiveness. As a result, the Village is the largest zero net energy community in the Unites States, combining compact walkable neighborhoods with extensive sustainable initiatives. Advanced energy conservation measures, the use of energy efficient appliances and optimized solar orientation in the site design has resulted in a reduced energy load that exceeds building standards by more than 50%. This achievement was accomplished by reducing the community energy demand through energy efficient building measures while producing an on-site renewable energy supply.



SWA’s design extended sustainable measures as far as possible, including integrating storm drainage and five miles of bicycle-pedestrian paths into an extensive open space system of parks, greenways, ponds, gardens, and sports facilities. SWA’s design aesthetic focuses on integrating these initiatives in an authentically local manner, employing systems that work best with the local environmental condition. This balance between goals of sustainability and local cultural authenticity propels the project towards a cohesive network of program, circulation and outdoor spaces to serve the community. The project ultimately incorporates affordable housing in a neighborhood setting, while strengthening on-campus involvement, and creates a distinctive place to live in a pedestrian-oriented and bike-friendly environment.

UC Davis West Village | Davis CA. USA | SWA Group
Project Team |
John Wong
Cinda Gilliland
Elizabeth Shreeve
Al Dewitt
Kat Sun
Caroline Templeton
Mary Gourlay

Consultants + Collaborators |
Client | West Village Community Partnership, LLC (WVCP)
Carmel Partners, Inc.
Owner | University of California, Davis
Mixed-Use Architects | Studio E Architects (formerly Mithun)
Student Housing Architects | MVE Institutional
Landscape | Green Works P.C.,
Civil Engineering | Cunningham Engineering

Submitted by SWA Group

About Damian Holmes 5733 Articles
Damian Holmes is the Founder and Editor of World Landscape Architecture (WLA). He is a registered landscape architect (AILA) working in international design practice in Australia. Damian founded WLA in 2007 to provide a website for landscape architects written by landscape architects. Connect on Linkedin at https://www.linkedin.com/in/damianholmes/

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