April 23,  2003

Student Housing North: A 21st Century Residential Learning Community
- President Warren Baker

Cal Poly’s new Master Plan calls for the creation of residential communities to more than double the number of students living on campus.[1]  

Student Housing North will provide apartment units, parking and a village center with recreation and retail facilities for 2700 students in an area north Brizzolara Creek designated for student housing.  The size of this project offers Cal Poly a unique opportunity to create a twenty-first century living and learning community. Its program components and physical design can embody the key values of the Cal Poly Master Plan, particularly with respect to establishing an atmosphere that is student-centered, stimulating, socially supportive and environmentally responsible.

Student Housing North has the potential to transform the campus through the creation of a new community that connects residential living with teaching and learning in a way that builds on Cal Poly’s distinctive mission.  While the facilities in Student Housing North will be equipped with state-of-the-art technology, the setting offers prospects for engaged learning, and the site plan can accommodate opportunities for informal social and recreational activities.

To help Cal Poly undertake this landmark student housing initiative, we are pursuing a partnership with Capstone West, a private firm with considerable experience and expertise in development of university student housing. This innovative partnership will permit the University to achieve a number of benefits difficult or impossible to obtain through traditional capital project implementation methods. The partnership will, first of all, permit us to bring to bear broader external expertise. It will provide additional flexibility and support for other capital projects. And it will reduce overall project costs and long-term costs to students. To achieve all these benefits, we must commit to a shorter timetable than usual, a timetable that will be challenging but well worth the concerted effort and attention of the University community.

Student Housing North: More than 2700 Beds
- Vice President Larry Kelley

Student Housing North is being developed as the primary component of an educational partnership with Capstone West.  Several complex arrangements have been negotiated to provide this opportunity.  For example, the site north of Brizzolara Creek identified on the campus Master Plan is currently occupied by facilities that support teaching and learning in the College of Agriculture.  Additional agricultural support facilities occupy the south bank of Brizzolara Creek, which will be enhanced as a key entrance to Student Housing North.   Consistent with Master Plan principles, these functions will be relocated without disrupting instruction in the College.  Acquisition of Edna Ranch East provides some of the flexibility necessary to accommodate Agriculture’s needs as well as to expand the College’s research and instruction pertaining to viticulture, equestrian programs and land management. Unlike other projects on campus, Capstone West will develop, finance, and construct the housing at their risk.  Upon successful completion of the project and acceptance by the University, Cal Poly will acquire the housing by issuing bonds through the CSU Systemwide Revenue Bond program.   This new approach is designed to move faster and at lower overall costs while providing the quality that is controlled by the specifications developed by Cal Poly.  The project also benefits from the experience Capstone brings related to the development of student housing. Envisioning a 21st Century  'Living and Learning' Community - Provost Paul Zingg and Vice President Cornel Morton    Student Housing North would be  built on a hillside across the creek   from Cerro Vista student complex   now under construction. The opening of Cerro Vista in Fall 2003 marks a new era for Cal Poly’s residential community.   Unlike earlier residence halls built as dormitories, the design of Cerro Vista responded to students’ interest in the greater privacy and independence associated with apartment living.  Student Housing North continues that trend, with a range of unit sizes and living arrangements. With the addition of Student Housing North, Cal Poly will have the capacity to house approximately one-third of its students.  The University expects that new freshmen will continue to live in traditional residence halls as they become socialized to university life.  Sophomores, upper division students, married and graduate students can be accommodated in apartments.   The Cal Poly student housing long-range strategic plan calls for new housing to accommodate living groups defined by specific learning interests.[2]  These may be directly academic – extension and expansion of the living and learning programs in the North Mountain residence halls – such as for the honors program or a specific discipline or college.  Also, they may be associated with a particular career path, interdisciplinary interest or international or multi-cultural living and learning experience.   The central challenge guiding the plan is to shape an attractive, comfortable, safe and inspiring living and learning community that is also flexible and affordable.

Designing  a New  Residential Community  in a Unique Setting - Executive Vice Provost  Linda Dalton The physical design provides a setting for the residential learning program to flourish, and capitalizes on the environmental assets of the site, embodying the following ideas: Learning comes first – emphasize the history and context of the area as a part of Cal Poly. Hill towns are special – take advantage of a setting and location that offer great views, backdrops and recreational opportunities. Honor nature – emphasize advantages of having natural landforms, waterways, vegetation and wildlife nearby and protect them as assets. Students are diverse people – enable social and intellectual discourse as well as privacy and contemplation. Establish identity – create memorable indoor and outdoor places and spaces, including activity centers as well as passive areas. Celebrate community – encourage a range of activities, events and support services. Getting there is half the fun – make pedestrian and bicycle access a positive part of the experience – e.g., opportunities for exercise, learning, social interaction. Convenience matters – locate services and activities, and design circulation to encourage access.

The development of this community needs to both capture and respect the unique features of the site and situation.  Cal Poly wants students to be eager to live in this community and take pride in becoming alumni identified with it.

As the University shapes the learning program for Student Housing North to meet a variety of residential community interests, campus efforts will be guided by the values embodied in the Cal Poly mission statement and related documents, including the Cal Poly Plan, Master Plan, Visionary Pragmatism report, and administrative viewpoint statements.[3]

• Mission – Include learning opportunities that showcase polytechnic and applied learning.
• Community Values – Provide opportunities to engage in organization, governance, sharing and community building.
• Academic Quality – Offer resources and settings that support intellectual discourse.
• Student Success – Provide the social environment and support services that enable students to succeed academically and complete their degree programs.
• Social and Intellectual Diversity – Create a community that welcomes diversity as well as identity.
• Maturation – Create opportunities for residents to exercise skills and abilities that will help them to succeed in their future personal, civic, and career lives.

Involving the Campus Community

Students, faculty and staff are invited to help Cal Poly develop the learning community for Student Housing North. 

The project is being planned on an aggressive schedule in order to have units ready for occupancy in Fall 2006 – the same year that the University will have new instructional facilities ready for use.  The timetable includes all the normal and mandated steps – e.g., the Landscape Advisory Committee and Biological Sciences Advisory Committee input to the Campus Planning Committee; full environmental review; and a series of submittals to the CSU Board of Trustees.  The project website contains a more detailed schedule that will be kept up to date as the project proceeds.

Concurrently, the process offers periodic workshops for broad campus involvement.  During Spring 2003, these workshops will focus on refining the living and learning vision for Student Housing North.  Information about opportunities to participate will be published in the Cal Poly Report, Mustang Daily and on the website for the project.