A vibrant, transit-connected home for students
Historically isolated by the Interstate 5 corridor, UC San Diego’s 63-acre Pepper Canyon East precinct offered a transformational opportunity with the arrival of the Blue Line light rail extension. The new train line enables a transit-oriented development (TOD) capable of comfortably housing 3,500 students while acting as a welcoming destination for the campus and region.
Collaborating with UC San Diego and Perkins & Will, Gehl led the visioning and programming process to establish the district’s core DNA. Driven by robust stakeholder workshops and student engagement, the resulting framework includes four pillars: a civic front door bridging campus and city life; an engaging, year-round active neighborhood; inclusive public spaces for cross-pollination; and a pioneering
model for sustainable, transit-first living.
The programming framework translates these pillars into three human-scale character zones designed around daily routines. “The Portal” serves as a buzzing public gateway directly activated by the trolley platform. “Pepper Canyon Commons” anchors everyday student and faculty needs via a vibrant mix of dining options, media labs, and fresh food markets to infill missing campus amenities. Finally, “Community Clusters” provide protected residential courtyards optimized for student respite, study, and recreation.
The study stress-tested the vision with three distinct scenarios. These flexible models showed the site could comfortably absorb high-density housing blocks, residential towers, and micro-mobility networks while maintaining a texturally varied public realm centered entirely on the joy of pedestrian life.
