Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center Master Plan

The 1994 Northridge earthquake irreparably damaged the UCLA Medical School. To evaluate the consequences of this event and to prepare for the rebuilding of the compromised infrastructure, the Board of Regents commissioned Pei Partnership Architects to execute a Master Plan, the primary goal of which was to integrate hospital care with teaching and research.

LOCATION: Los Angeles, California

CLIENT: Regents of the University of California

SIZE: Approximately 12 city blocks

STATUS: Master Plan 1997, New Complex Building 1999-2008

CATEGORY: Education & Healthcare

The Master Plan described a comprehensive reorganization of the Medical School that renewed and strengthened its internal organization and provided a dignified gateway entrance to the university. The plan envisioned not only the staged redevelopment of this precinct but also a conscious adoption of the pattern of quadrangles and pathways, scale and materials of the original North Campus.

Future expansion of the Medical School is among the goals the plan addressed. In identifying prospective sites and both specific and generic uses for them, the plan established a hierarchy that reflected the progression of basic and clinical research, inpatient and outpatient treatment that is a signature of the school. The new Medical School has become the physical as well as symbolic link between teaching and research.

A central initiative involved the transformation of Westwood Boulevard into a landscaped and pedestrian-oriented spine originating at the threshold of Westwood Village and terminating at the entrance to the North Campus. The boulevard’s reduced lanes and brick paving moderates vehicular flow, while the replacement of a stately but depleted allee of eucalyptus trees with a mature and overlapping canopy of ficus trees restores the formal character and dignity of this major gateway.