From warehouse to high rise: How downtown San Diego’s NewSchool transformed WeWork space into a campus

Sometimes a change of scenery can make a big difference.

After nearly four decades, downtown San Diego’s NewSchool of Architecture & Design has started its first semester outside of East Village in a high rise in the business district.

The university had a rough few years: A decline in enrollment, a revolving door of presidents and an accreditation scare. Yet things seem to be on the upswing for the nearly 50-year-old university at its new location.

NewSchool now takes up three floors in 600 B St., next to Symphony Towers, transforming the former WeWork space into classrooms, faculty offices and a library. The university, which offers bachelor’s and master’s degrees, had been in the East Village since 1988.

“Staying downtown was a deliberate and meaningful choice,” said NewSchool’s President Chiao-Ling Hsu.

She said being at 600 B St., especially up high where students can see all of downtown, is like a living laboratory for students. Hsu said she expects many students to head off into San Diego as architects, as they have for decades, and shape the city.

Hsu, born in Taiwan, is a steady presence after a lot of leadership turnover. The university had one permanent and four interim presidents from 2020 to 2022. Leadership issues were one reason why the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, or WASC, sent a letter in late 2022 about its accreditation. It expressed concern that the school might not have enough money to stay open, had lost enrollment and the turnover of presidents was troubling.

With leadership now more stable and financial health improved, WASC has reaffirmed NewSchool’s accreditation through 2027. NewSchool’s enrollment hasn’t changed much since its struggles a few years ago and remains at roughly 350 students. The university has always valued smaller class sizes, but current enrollment is a far cry from 2011, when it enrolled nearly 700 students.

There were just two people in charge of enrollment when Hsu started as interim president in 2022. She has since grown the team to six employees with plans to add two more. Additionally, the university has increased spending on marketing and has worked to strengthen ties to local industry. NewSchool gave space in its new campus, for free, to two industry groups that now use 600 B as a headquarters: The San Diego chapter of the American Institute of Architects and the San Diego Architectural Foundation.

NewSchool moved into its new building, students and all, over a three-month period in the spring. Cubbies used for WeWork renters were turned into faculty offices and office space designed for business meetings became classrooms.

“It’s inspiring having this 360 (degree) view of downtown,” said Frances Soucie, a 31-year-old architecture student.

Soucie and fellow student Eva Collier, 22, both in their third year in the bachelor’s of architecture degree program, said the new location was an upgrade from East Village. In addition to nicer looking space, they said students are still in awe of working on conceptual projects in downtown San Diego and being able to walk over to a window and point at it.

Many graduates of the school are still very active in the community: Mathilda Bialk, principal of Studio E Architects, which designs dozens of local apartment buildings and won awards for its work at UC San Diego; Ashley Evans, head of design at Basile Studio, which keeps winning awards for its restaurant and bar designs for places like Morning Glory, Puesto, Soda & Swine and Raised by Wolves; and the founders of RAD LAB, an architecture firm responsible for popular shipping container food and music venue Quartyard.

“Almost every major architect in town probably has a NewSchool graduate on its staff,” said Stephen Russell, CEO of the San Diego Housing Federation, and a 2010 graduate of NewSchool.

He said the school has stabilized, in part, because of the support of many successful graduates. Russell also said a new permanent location, a bit of soul searching from leadership and a continued focus on the community has kept the school on an upswing.

NewSchool’s presence in downtown’s business district makes for a bit of revitalization after dozens of businesses, including the Union-Tribune, left the area in the wake of the pandemic. In an area once buzzing with office workers, there are boarded up restaurants that used to be packed at lunchtime. Not all is lost: Students have taken to a new coffee shop across the street called Altered State and are big fans of pizza deals at nearby grocery store Krisp.

NewSchool wasn’t always downtown, but that geography is now part of its identity. It was founded in Chula Vista in 1980 by Richard Welsh, a local community college instructor who was frustrated that many students found it difficult to gain entrance to architecture programs around the state.

The school remains the only well-established institution south of the Los Angeles metro area with a full professional degree program in architecture.

Amid financial difficulties in 2020, NewSchool was purchased by Chinese based-Ambow Education, which later moved its headquarters to Cupertino. The for-profit company is focused on education tools with a technology focus. It showcases its ownership of NewSchool on its website and in press releases.

Hsu said the school has at least broke even every year since 2023, a huge improvement for the NewSchool. Daniela Deutsch, NewSchool’s architecture dean, said it lost money every year for at least a decade before Ambow bought it.

In 2022, Ambow also said the school had been losing money for years and it had since “invested millions.” Hsu stressed that the school’s new financial health is tied to sustainability. NewSchool saved money moving to 600 B. St., which has cheaper rent than their old building, and reworking old WeWork floors into the campus — instead of tearing it all out and starting new.

Ambow has not raised tuition costs since the pandemic.

“We believe that affordability and quality can go hand in hand,” Hsu said, “and maintaining tuition stability is one of the ways we demonstrate that commitment as we continue to navigate the post-pandemic period and broader economic recovery.”

NewSchool’s most expensive degree is a bachelor’s degree of architecture, estimated by the school at $174,000 for a four-year degree. Master degree programs, which require fewer credits and are less expensive, include degrees in construction management, estimated at $33,984, and architectural studies, $41,310. The university said 56% of students receive some sort of scholarship and 91% of students land a job related to their degree within six months after graduation

One less tangible aspect about the school’s move is excitement about the future. Bruce Matthes, a NewSchool professor and department head, said students have gone from a ground floor building to watching construction as it happens with an aerial view. He said it has changed everything from curriculum to classes where professors can point to buildings as examples.

“We’ve gone from the warehouse to the high rise,” Matthes said.

Staff writer Gary Robbins contributed to this article.