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September 29, 2010, 01:00 PM ET
Cal Poly Pomona Plans to Demolish Landmark Predock Complex
"Landmark" is an easy term to overuse—it can serve as a sort of courtesy title for good design—but Antoine Predock's 1993 Classroom Laboratory Administration Building at the California State Polytechnic University at Pomona is a landmark in the true sense of the word: It's an unmistakable complex with an iconic, triangle-topped tower that is easily visible to commuters passing the campus morning, noon, and night on busy Interstate 10.
It is also, apparently, doomed.
Last week the California State University Board of Trustees approved a plan to demolish the two-building complex, which university officials said had "taxed operational budgets and personnel due to a number of construction flaws and mechanical-system failures." It will be replaced, officials said, with "a student-services building that is much easier to navigate than the CLA."
The trustees approved the demolition after being told that repairing the complex would cost $80-million. "A major renovation would involve overhauling the mechanical and electrical systems, reviewing and correcting ADA requirements, and bringing the building up to current seismic code," the university said, adding that occupants would also have to be relocated for two years.
Michael Ortiz, the university's president, said in a public message: "Even after a major renovation, the CLA would remain difficult to navigate, waste internal space, be energy inefficient and subject to future mitigation issues—and would still sit atop the San Jose Fault."
But a glimmer of hope remains for the building's fans. Mike Sylvester, associate vice president for facilities, planning, and management, told Architectural Record that the university would hire a consultant to study whether any of the complex can be saved. "The wrecking ball is not imminent," he said. "Even if we made a decision today to demolish the building, it won’t happen for at least another five years."
The complex, which Mr. Predock designed after winning an international competition, helped cement his reputation as an architectural star. He went on to win the American Institute of Architects' Gold Medal in 2006. Other notable Predock buildings on college campuses include Skidmore College's Tang Museum and the University of New Mexico's architecture-school building.
(Cal Poly Pomona photo)
What's going up, what's coming down, and why—Buildings & Grounds offers news about campus architecture and facilities.
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