AMCAL won the Grand Award for best student housing or faculty housing in the 2021 PCBC Gold Nugget Award competition.
The PCBC Gold Nugget Awards are the oldest and most prestigious design awards in the nation, recognizing those who build and improve communities through exceptional concepts in design, planning and development. The winners are selected by a panel of top industry experts who reviewed nearly 600 entries. The winners showcase the most exciting trends in design, planning and building.
PCBC is the largest home building tradeshow in the Western United States and is dedicated to advancing the art, science and business of housing. Sponsored by the California Building Industry Association and endorsed by the Leading Builders of America—whose membership includes many of the largest public and private home builders in the country
The Grad is a new, off-campus, purpose-built student housing community designed specifically to serve students of San José State University located in the heart of Silicon Valley. The Grad is a 19-story mixed-use residential tower adjacent to a 4-story parking garage topped with an expansive recreation deck. The Grad’s striking high-rise design and unprecedented abundance of amenities is unique in San Jose’s urban center. The community is the first high-rise student housing building and among the very few built in the U.S. The Grad San Jose won Silicon Valley Business Journal’s 2019 Award for Best Market Rate Residential Project and received attention from the Silicon Valley Business Journal for being the 8th largest construction project in San Jose ranked by square feet.
PCBC judges reaction to The Grad: “WOW, wish I lived in a college dorm like that! Amongst top contenders in this category, the architecture was interwoven into the fabric of the downtown environment of mid-to-high rise buildings. Without compromising the integrity of the use and purpose, dorm rooms and amenity areas have a ‘resort-hotel’ vibe. A place where you would not miss being away from home.”