Latitude 33 Planning & Engineering and Development Team Receive National DBIA Award for UC San Diego’s Nuevo East Graduate Student Housing

Civil Engineering Firm Wins Four National DBIA Awards in Five Years

San Diego, CA – Latitude 33 Planning & Engineering joins the University of California, San Diego and other project partners in celebrating UC San Diego Nuevo East Graduate Student Housing’s national recognition by the Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA).  The organization named Nuevo East a winner of a National Award of Merit in the Educational Facilities category.  Recipients were honored at DBIA’s annual Awards Dinner on November 2, 2023, at the Design-Build Conference & Expo in National Harbor, MD.  This award is the latest in a series of National DBIA awards for Latitude 33, demonstrating the firm’s excellent outcomes as part of a design-build team. 

To view UC San Diego Nuevo East project photos, click here.

The National DBIA Awards Program

The DBIA National Awards Program recognizes developments that effectively apply design-build best practices, including early integration of key team members during the proposal process, and close coordination between design and construction team members from the design through construction.  To be eligible, projects must be completed on time, on budget, and without litigation.  Submissions are judged by a panel of industry experts who review each project for its design-build process, design excellence, and teaming performance.

UC San Diego Nuevo East Graduate Student Housing

The $220 million mixed-use UC San Diego Nuevo East Graduate Student Housing community consists of 712,000 total square feet which house 1,374 students.  The project includes five (5) mid- and high-rise residential buildings with one- to four-bedroom apartments and townhomes. A sixth building, The Exchange, serves as a gateway to the East Campus and provides study space, meeting facilities, a yoga and fitness room, and outdoor gathering spaces including public plazas and community gardens.  The project successfully achieved the university’s sustainability goals, met the University of California Policy on Sustainable Practice, and secured USGBC LEED Gold certification.  Latitude 33 provided the design survey, civil engineering services, and construction support/administration for the development.

Latitude 33’s Recent History of National DBIA Awards

With the addition of the 2023 DBIA award, Latitude 33 has now brought home four (4) National DBIA Awards in five (5) years.  Past awards include:

• In 2022, The San Diego County Youth Transition Campus earned a DBIA National Award of Merit in the Federal, State, County, Municipal category.
• In 2021, UC San Diego Nuevo West Graduate Student Housing earned a National DBIA Best of Award for Best Use of BIM/VDC.
• In 2019, UC San Diego Mesa Nueva Graduate and Professional Student Housing earned a National DBIA Best of Award for Best in Teaming.

Kyle Boyce, Associate at Latitude 33 Planning & Engineering, states, “Congratulations to UC San Diego, Hensel Phelps, Mithun, and the entire team for developing these highly successful graduate student residences.  These homes were designed and built with meticulous intentionality—including the pedestrian flow, the neighborhood connections, the spaces to facilitate resident interaction, and the sustainability initiatives, to name a few.  As a world-class university, these are homes are a fantastic addition to UC San Diego’s offerings.” 

About Latitude 33 Planning & Engineering

Founded in 1993, Latitude 33 Planning & Engineering offers a comprehensive, interdisciplinary approach to design.  The firm provides public sector planning, land use planning, public outreach, entitlement services, civil engineering design, and surveying/mapping to public agencies, developers, and property owners. The firm’s breadth of expertise includes aviation, life sciences, residential, education, healthcare, military, commercial/retail, civic, hospitality, and design-build projects.  For more information, visit latitude33.com.