Osher's New Home: Coming Fall 2023

by Amy Patterson, Osher Program Director 

In order to meet the growing UC San Diego enrollment, the university complex that houses Extension and our Osher facilities, will be demolished in order to expand student housing in Marshall College. After more than 45 years our Osher program will be moving to a new physical location in 2023: The La Jolla Innovation Center. This brand new building, just approved for construction by the UC Regents, will be located at the corner of La Jolla Village Drive and Villa La Jolla Drive, next to a skybridge that provides direct and easy access to the central part of campus and the VA Hospital. This impressive new, state-of-the-art and sustainable structure will be seven stories tall and will include four levels of parking, a ground floor retail space and café, an abundance of classrooms, and plenty of common area space for gathering and socializing throughout the day. 

Osher will have its own dedicated area on the first floor, which will include four reconfigurable classrooms, a meeting room, and an administrative office, and will share the building with several programs from UC San Diego Health, the School of Medicine and Extension. This move will position our Osher program within a new central hub of university innovation and give our members access to classrooms with the most updated and sophisticated technology available. Our future home will allow us to continue to grow our program into a new era while simultaneously maintaining the integrity of our mission of cultivating community, providing intellectual stimulation, and enriching lives through lifelong learning. 

The specific design details of the Osher classrooms at the Innovation Center will be discussed over the coming months and years as this project continues to develop. Member feedback is vital and will be taken into serious consideration as we determine what we want our space to look like and how we can make it as functional and accessible for our members as possible. The Osher leadership has already hosted a town hall and several other meetings to collect feedback and concerns, which will be relayed to the UCSD executives in charge of this project. If you have any questions or concerns about this new move or the building please email olli@ucsd.edu. 

Construction on the La Jolla Innovation Center is set to begin in the summer of 2021, with an anticipated occupancy date of fall 2023. Updated information and additional details can be found on the official UCSD site for the project: https://blink.ucsd.edu/facilities/real-estate/ljic.html