The University of California, San Francisco – one of the premier medical universities in the country – is developing a new campus in the Mission Bay section of the city, South of Market. To accommodate students and staff, the university commissioned SOM to design a housing building on Block 20 of the site. The 350,000 sf project, won in a design competition, is composed of four buildings that surround a 100-foot-by-300-foot central courtyard. The terraced courtyard will provide the residents a respite from their urban surroundings. The complex contains 350 units and will house students, staff, and their families. To make the facility as convenient as possible, it will also contain 9,500 sf of retail on the ground level and 350 parking spaces (on three levels). The 18-floor tower building – which spans the entire southwestern side of the block – anchors the complex. The tower’s top floor contains community and study rooms, which open out onto a garden terrace. A series of monumental stairs leading up to the West entrance will serve as another gathering place.