The La Jolla Innovation Center is a state-of-the-art facility that will house several programs from UC San Diego Health, UC San Diego School of Medicine and UC San Diego Extension. This seven-story, 186,650-SF conventional cast-in-place concrete development will include five levels of office and educational space; two levels each of above- and below-grade parking with additional surface parking; a ground-floor café, which is accessible to the public; and landscape and hardscape improvements. The finished structure will house UC occupants that currently reside in seismic non-compliant office buildings and provide a public-facing, easily accessible amenity. Miyamoto faced two challenges with this design: the structure’s proximity to city easements and utilities and the existing soil conditions. With their famous outside-of-the-box approach, our engineers developed an optimized mat foundation system that will allow the parking to extend an additional level below ground, eliminating further foundation costs and avoiding the easements.