Story poles posted for proposed Marine Conservation Facility

To give a three-dimensional representation of the size planned for UC San Diego’s Marine Conservation Facility redevelopment, story poles have gone up along La Jolla Shores Drive. They will remain in place until approximately the third week of July.

The poles were posted at the request of the La Jolla Community Planning Association, after it reviewed the project earlier this year.

As previously reported in La Jolla Light, the project calls for the conversion of the former National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC) buildings located on the northern end of the campus, into laboratories for Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) students, and the addition of a two-story building to house a 100-student forum and a café.

The architectural firm Safdie-Rabines, which designed the nearby Caroline’s Seaside Café, also designed the new facility. The $22 million project, paid for with campus funds, is expected to start construction this fall and be complete by fall 2018.

The story poles were requested because a small portion of the facility would block some of the ocean view and board members wanted to be sure the facility would be built at the scale to which it was represented. To block less of the view, the project was reduced from its original designs and some trees were removed on the other side of the building. The story poles reflect the most recent measurements.