UCI Health – Irvine

Located adjacent to the San Joaquin Marsh, UCI Health – Irvine serves as a gateway between busy urbanscape and untouched…

Integrating the Built Environment & Natural World

UCI Health – Irvine

Irvine, CA

Located adjacent to the San Joaquin Marsh, UCI Health - Irvine serves as a gateway between busy urbanscape and untouched nature. The CO Architects + Hensel Phelps Design-Build team worked with UCI Health to develop this new healthcare complex in Irvine, near the university campus. The medical center comprises an acute care hospital, an ambulatory care and comprehensive cancer center (ACC), a parking structure, and an all-electric central utility plant.

The architectural expression echoes the marsh's horizontal layering through deliberate stratification of form and material. The base consists of the garden level, events plaza, and first floor, and uses stone and concrete to anchor the buildings to the site. Horizontal copper accents add warmth and reflectivity, subtly shifting with daylight conditions. The hospital and ACC are clad in a high-performance envelope with unitized curtain wall systems, high-efficiency glazing, horizontal sunshades, and custom ceramic frit patterns that reduce solar heat gain by up to 85%.

Upper floors utilize projected horizontal eyebrows, while lower floors rely on fritted glass with a pattern derived from the Fibonacci sequence found abundantly in nature. Abstracted across the facade, the pattern softens incoming daylight, creates a visually calming environment, and serves as bird-friendly glazing for the protected wetlands.