North Torrey Pines Living & Learning Neighborhood (LLN)

Looking east towards the Mosaic building. (Samuel Sharp / BuildSD)

The North Torrey Pines Living & Learning Neighborhood (LLN) is a series of mixed-use buildings that houses UC San Diego’s Sixth College. Opened in 2020 and built on the former site of the UC San Diego Extended Studies campus, North Torrey Pines LLN consists of four mixed-use residential and retail buildings, as well as three academic buildings. The complex totals 1.6 million square feet and provides a total of over 2,048 beds for UC San Diego students.

Founded in 2001, UC San Diego’s Sixth College was originally housed in the affectionately-nicknamed ‘Camp Snoopy’ residences on the east side of campus. These residence halls, which have since been demolished and replaced by the towers of Pepper Canyon West, had also previously served as a temporary home for Eleanor Roosevelt College (then named Fifth College). Just as Roosevelt outgrew Camp Snoopy, Sixth too reached the same fate—and in fall 2016, the university began a design-build competition to finally give Sixth a permanent home, eventually won by Safdie Rabines Architects alongside HKS Architects and OJB Landscape Architecture.

Looking west from the Ridge Walk Academic Complex. (Samuel Sharp / BuildSD)

The complex is bisected by Scholars Drive, and the Scholars Parking Structure sits beneath it, elevating the eastern half of the complex atop a large parking podium. The parking structure additionally provides both bike racks and a secured bike room. Both buildings on the west side of Scholars Drive are predominantly residential. The northwestern building, Kaleidoscope, contains student housing, a community garden and basketball court, and a conference room and study spaces. The southwestern building, Tapestry, contains more student housing and study spaces.

The buildings on the eastern side of campus fare better with regard to amenities. Mosaic, in the southeastern corner of the complex, includes student housing, the UC San Diego Craft Center, a large retail market and coffeehouse, and a food hall-style dining hall with five platforms: Wolftown serves burritos and street food, The Rooftop serves BBQ, Makai serves poke bowls, Crave serves grain bowls and salads, and Noodles serves ramen and pho. Wolftown features a mural by local artist Maxx Moses, also known for creating several of the murals at Orange Line Trolley stations.

Maxx Moses, Wolftown (2021, Safdie Rabines photo)

Mosaic also contains two lecture halls–including one dedicated to the Suraj Israni Center for Cinematic Arts–and one smaller classroom.

The final of the four residential buildings, Catalyst, contains student housing, the Sixth College administration and provost’s office, a large lecture hall, and third-party retail (currently occupied by Plant Power Fast Food).

Interior view of the Catalyst Lecture Hall. (Samuel Sharp / BuildSD)

Three non-residential buildings on the east side of the complex round out the LLN. The Arts & Humanities and Social Sciences & Public Engagement buildings, collectively known as the Ridge Walk Academic Complex, contain a mix of classrooms, offices, and third-party retail (currently occupied by Fan-Fan, Showa Ramen, Blue Bowl, and Tahini), as well as the University’s Urban Studies & Planning Studio and Climate Action Lab. The final academic building in the complex is The Jeannie, a monumental 600-seat auditorium and lecture hall–the largest on campus.

The lobby of the Jeannie features perhaps the most impressive piece of the LLN–a 22’ by 62’ mural by legendary visual artist Alexis Smith. The piece was originally installed in 1987 at the Brooklyn Museum in New York City. Smith was inspired by the piece to create her later Snake Path for the path leading up to UC San Diego’s Geisel Library, and promised the Stuart Collection that, if UC San Diego could ever find a place for it, she would donate Same Old Paradise to the campus. When Sixth College moved into the North Torrey Pines LLN in 2021, a place was found. The mural is packed with allegorical representations of Sal Paradise’s journey across America in Jack Kerouac’s On The Road.

Alexis Smith, Same Old Paradise (1987/2021, Stuart Collection photo)

Sixth College has always been about working at the intersection of arts, culture, and technology. This new campus, at both the literal and figurative intersection of some of the oldest and newest buildings and disciplines on the UC San Diego campus, seems to be one of the strongest commitments to those ideals.