With the final decision on who will design the campus at Mission Bay coming Sunday, the UCSF community had the opportunity to voice their opinions and concerns in an open forum yesterday.

Model of the Mission Bay site provided by Catellus Development Corp. and on view at the American Institute of Architects, 130 Sutter Street.

Robin Jones of University Advancement and Planning gave a slide presentation of the designs submitted by the five finalists. Jones, as well as Bruce Spaulding, Vice Chancellor of Advancement and Planning, Keith Yamamoto, of the Mission Bay Task Force, and Cliff Graves, President of the Bay Area Life Sciences Alliance, the sponsor of the design competition, gave an overview of the project and answered questions by faculty and staff.

All of the designs, Jones said, featured 1.7 million square feet of parking, much more than is currently available on campus, as well as "considerably more open space." Also, each architectural firm was asked to include in their campus design a building to be used as a school, possibly a magnet high school for science, Jones said.

"We're looking for flexibility of the plan and the firm," Jones said. "They must be lasting and enduring and able to accommodate the changes we know will happen." In addition to these criteria for judging firms, Jones said price is, of course, a factor. "Whether or not this plan is affordable is going to be key." Four of the firms projected costs to be between $880 and $890 million and one firm gave an estimate of $800 million. But, as both Jones and Spaulding were sure to point out, these estimates are not being taken at face value--they are being reviewed by experts.

Of the 60 or so people in attendance, only one expressed an opinion on a favored design before the hour-long forum came to a close. He liked the design proposed by STUDIOS Architecture because of its ability to create a large amount of both open space and parking space. The other comments from the crowd were logistical in nature, such as how many people will populate the Mission Bay campus on a given day? (9100); how will people get around the 43-acre campus? (shuttle service); and are security issues addressed in the designs? (yes).

UCSF staff, faculty and students still have a chance to view the designs in the Medical Scinces Building lobby or at the San Francisco Chapter of the AIA at 130 Sutter St., 6th floor until Thursday at 6 p.m. A sample of models and renderings is also available on Daybreak. The UCSF community is invited to register their opinions by filling out the comment forms available in the MedSci lobby and online and sending them to JM-MB at Box 0462.

Presentations by each of the five design competition finalists will take place on Saturday, Nov. 1 from 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the Schwab Room of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art at 151 Third St. Final jury deliberations will take place on Sunday, with the winner selected the same day and announced Monday, Nov. 3 at the Palace Hotel.

1st appeared 10/29/97

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