Middle Earth is a student housing complex at the University of California, Irvine that houses approximately 1,690 students in 24 residence halls. The names of the halls and other facilities were selected from J.R.R. Tolkien's legendarium. Middle Earth is located along Ring Road, toward the core of the university's campus. The residence halls were built in three consecutive phases, beginning in 1974; the last phase was completed in the early 2000s.