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At the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), growth is reshaping the La Jolla campus at every scale. New academic buildings, housing, laboratories, and healthcare facilities are rising across the landscape, increasing demand for the infrastructure that supports them.

Since the adoption of the 2018 La Jolla Campus Long Range Development Plan (LRDP), growth has outpaced the original projections. In response, UC San Diego updated the plan in 2025, extending the planning horizon to 2040, increasing the modeled campus population capacity to nearly 96,300 students, faculty, and staff, and expanding overall development capacity by 30 percent.

Expansion at this scale requires more than new buildings. It depends on utility systems that are both resilient and adaptable – capable of supporting daily campus operations while accommodating long-term growth. The university’s approach focuses on meeting rising demand efficiently while planning infrastructure that can evolve alongside future needs.

To support this effort, UC San Diego partnered with Salas O’Brien to expand the Main Campus Central Utility Plant with a new, standalone chilled water facility designed to meet current demand and future capacity.

Building capacity for a campus on the rise

Centralized utilities are the backbone of campus‑scale growth. At UC San Diego, the central plant has long served as the hub that enables new construction, quietly supporting everything from laboratories and classrooms to housing and healthcare facilities.

“The campus had reached a point where additional cooling capacity was essential,” Christopher McDaniel, Principal at Salas O’Brien and lead engineer for the project, said. “The question wasn’t only how much capacity the university needed today, but how the system could continue to scale as the campus evolves.”

To meet that demand, Salas O’Brien designed a new standalone 6,000-ton industrial-style central plant fully integrated with the existing chilled water distribution system. The facility includes:

• Two 3,000‑ton chillers
• Two 3,000‑ton cooling towers
• Infrastructure and space for future expansion to 12,000 tons
• Provisions for a future 2‑million‑gallon thermal energy storage system
• Industrial‑grade controls that allow the plant to operate independently or in parallel with the existing plant

The expansion significantly increases chilled water capacity while introducing operational flexibility that supports both current needs and future growth. The system was intentionally designed with connection points for a mirrored facility, enabling phased expansion as campus demand continues to rise toward long-term population targets.

Resilience built into campus operations

For a university campus, cooling is mission critical. Laboratories, medical and research environments, classrooms, and student facilities all depend on reliable temperature control around the clock.

Until this expansion, the original central plant had never been able to shut down completely.

The new plant changes that by allowing UC San Diego to fully isolate the original central plant for maintenance or repairs while continuing to serve the campus without interruption.

“For the first time, the campus can shut down the existing plant for maintenance or repairs without impacting cooling,” McDaniel said. “That fundamentally changes how the system can be operated and maintained.”

The expansion significantly increases chilled water capacity while introducing operational flexibility that supports both current needs and future growth. The system was intentionally designed with connection points for a mirrored facility, enabling phased expansion as campus demand continues to rise toward long-term population targets.

Designed around the people who run it

UC San Diego’s facilities and operations teams were closely involved throughout the design process, bringing practical experience into key decisions.

Maintainability, safety, and long-term usability were central to the design approach, influencing both the building layout and the organization of major systems. The facility was planned not only for current performance but also for the people responsible for operating and maintaining it over time.

Design priorities included:

• Wide access corridors for maintenance and equipment replacement
• Safe working clearances around major systems
• Organized routing of piping and utilities
• Dedicated connection points for future expansion
• Layout that supports long‑term operational flexibility

“The plant operators are the ones who live with the design,” McDaniel said. “Designing around how they work makes a real difference over the life of the facility.”

Close collaboration between the design team and university stakeholders helped align operational priorities with long-term infrastructure goals, resulting in a facility that supports safe, efficient, and adaptable day-to-day use.

A high-performance plant with architectural presence

Working closely with Mascari Dinh Architects, the design team leveraged the hillside site by routing major piping and mechanical systems underground into a basement level. This approach kept the upper floors clean, uncluttered, and easily accessible.

As a result, the facility presents a more refined expression than a typical central plant.

“You don’t get the feel of a central plant,” McDaniel said. “You don’t see any piping—which is unlike any other plant I have seen or designed.”

Extensive glazing opens the refrigeration machinery room for exterior viewing, and the cooling towers rise without the network of exposed surface piping often associated with facilities of this scale.

The building blends into the campus environment while delivering the mission critical performance essential to daily operations.

Delivering through complexity

The project advanced during a period of significant disruption. Designed in 2019, its cost estimates and procurement strategies were established just before the COVID-19 pandemic, which brought escalating costs, supply chain challenges, and extended equipment lead times.

“The project faced cost and schedule challenges from the start of construction,” McDaniel said. “Preserving system reliability while navigating substitutions, delays, and escalating costs required constant coordination.”

Close collaboration among Salas O’Brien, The Whiting‑Turner Contracting Company, Mascari Dinh Architects, and UC San Diego staff proved essential.

The site itself also presented challenges, requiring the team to fit major equipment, circulation paths, and future expansion considerations into a tightly constrained footprint.

Even as conditions changed, the project team remained focused on the same core goals: delivering a robust central plant, protecting long-term performance, and preserving the university’s ability to expand in the future.

Engineering for the next generation of campus growth

UC San Diego’s approach to utilities reflects a broader institutional mindset: planning infrastructure as a platform for growth rather than a one-time solution.

As universities nationwide balance aging infrastructure with rising enrollment, expanded research activity, housing needs, and sustainability goals, the central plant expansion demonstrates the value of long-range planning backed by resilient engineering.

By combining added capacity, operational resilience, operator-focused design, and room for future growth, Salas O’Brien helped deliver infrastructure that supports the campus today and positions it for what comes next.

“This project is about enabling growth,” McDaniel said. “It gives the university the infrastructure it needs to keep moving forward.”

For media inquiries on this article, reach out to Stacy Lake, Director of Corporate Communications.