BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE CAL POLY’S ORFALEA COLLEGE OF BUSINESS FOSTERS AN UNPARALLELED EXPERIENTIAL BUSINESS EDUCATION ROOTED IN LEARN BY DOING. THE STUDENTS AND FACULTY WHO LIVE THIS PHILOSOPHY EACH DAY DESERVE AN INSPIRING SPACE TO LEARN AND LEAD. Rising from the lush landscape of O’Neill Green, Cal Poly’s Business Building stands as a campus landmark that inspires students, industry leaders, and faculty to succeed. Its physical presence now has the chance to take root internally to enhance the learning experience for the more than 2,000 students who take classes here each day. It is our responsibility to create a space worthy of those within it, one that reflects the startups, financial institutions, consulting firms, and tech giants that inspire curriculum and seek out our graduates. For the first time since its original construction in 1992, the Business Building will undergo long overdue interior renovations. On the surface, these efforts will add much-needed classroom space by maximizing existing square footage. If you look closer, you will see how these changes will embody a paradigm shift in the Orfalea College of Business that puts student success at the center of the college. Active learning spaces, Learn by Doing projects, advising resources, and a thriving, collaborative community will take their rightful place at the heart of our building. Most importantly, our students and alumni will have a place to call home – a place they can truly be proud of from the inside out. Now is the time to reshape the Orfalea College of Business, and equip it for the next generation of students. You are invited to take a closer look at the future we are building from the ground up.
INTERVIEW ROOMS / COLLABORATIVE SPACE
CAFÉ
STUDENT SUCCESS CENTER MAKERSPACE FLEXIBLE CLASSROOM DEAN’S OFFICE AND GRADUATE DEPARTMENT
FLEXIBLE CLASSROOM
FLEXIBILITY, COLLABORATION, INTERACTION, AND BRANDING ARE ESSENTIAL TO SUPPORT THE COLLEGE’S MISSION AND REFLECT ITS IDENTITY.
SHOWCASING EXCELLENCE Cal Poly’s Orfalea College of Business is consistently ranked as one of the “best values” in education nationally. The proposed enhancements will support the College’s aim to showcase examples of excellence at the heart of the building to inspire and motivate those who walk its halls. For example, the Industrial Technology & Packaging area will provide students with the opportunity to Learn by Doing in the makerspace, an area where people can gather to create, invent, and learn. The new Student Success Center will be centrally located to provide peer advising and mentorship at a variety of levels that will enable business students to maintain the highest graduation rates at Cal Poly. Putting these programs “on display” will aid the recruitment and retention of dedicated students and faculty. A new entry plaza will serve as the “front door” to reinforce the sense of arrival to both the building and to the larger campus, and will create a major pedestrian linkage into the campus from the south.
OPPOSITE PAGE Pedestrian circulation from
the south occurs through the courtyard and the existing Educational Building. Providing a new front entrance, adding a stair between the two ground levels, and moving the most public uses, such as the café and Dean’s Office, along the pathway will activate the courtyard and create a heart to the college.
Innovative design solutions will take advantage of existing underutilized spaces to create usable, collaboration areas. For example, both the breezeway and the courtyard are large spaces that have been seldom used because of typically cold and windy conditions. Enclosing the breezeway and inserting new programs into the courtyard will provide more interior space for interaction and teaching, along with usable outdoor areas that have exposure to natural light.
ABOVE In addition to the new entry, shading
devices will be added to the southwest facing offices to reduce existing heat gain and glare. RIGHT The central space includes the
makerspace on the first floor, stairs with informal seating, the Student Success Center on the second floor, and the interaction terrace / green roof on the third level.
FLEXIBILITY [flek-suh-buh-li-ti] noun capability to adapt to new, different, or changing requirements.
FLEXIBLE CLASSROOM
MAKERSPACE / INTERACTIVE SPACE
INTERACTION SPACE
DEAN’S OFFICE AND GRADUATE DEPARTMENT INTERACTION SPACE
CAFÉ
FLEXIBLE CLASSROOM
LEVEL
1 THE GROUND LEVEL EMPHASIZES
THE IDEA OF A STUDENT-CENTERED ENVIRONMENT FOR INTERACTION AND COLLABORATION. THE DEAN’S OFFICE, RELOCATED PROMINENTLY AT THE ENTRANCE TO THE COURTYARD, WILL REINFORCE ACCESSIBILITY TO STUDENTS. TWO NEW LARGE CLASSROOMS WILL BE FLEXIBLE TO SUPPORT THE CHANGING PEDAGOGY, TO BE USED AS TRADITIONAL LECTURE HALLS OR FOR SMALL COLLABORATIVE GROUP TEACHING ENVIRONMENTS. THE MAKERSPACE, WHERE STUDENTS LEARN BY DOING, WILL SUPPORT BOTH INDEPENDENT AND CLASSROOM FABRICATION OF STUDENT PROJECTS. A STAIR, WHICH CAN BE USED FOR INFORMAL LECTURES AND PUBLIC EVENTS, WILL BE THE LINK TO THE SECOND FLOOR AND THE LARGER CAMPUS.
ABOVE The makerspace will display student
projects to create excitement, bridging the Orfalea College of Business with other disciplines on campus. BELOW The café and interaction space will
encourage intellectual collisions between students and faculty.
COLLABORATION [kuh-lab-uh-rey-shuh n] noun the process of working jointly with others or together, especially in an intellectual endeavor.
GARDEN
INTERVIEW ROOMS
OPEN TO BELOW OPEN TO BELOW
COLLABORATIVE SPACE
INTERACTION
STUDENT SUCCESS CENTER
COLLABORATIVE SPACE
COLLABORATIVE SPACE
STAIRS / INFORMAL AUDITORIUM
COLLABORATIVE SPACE
OPEN TO BELOW
DEPARTMENT OFFICES
TERRACE
LEVEL
2 THE SECOND LEVEL HOUSES THE
STUDENT SUCCESS CENTER, WHICH WILL BE PHYSICALLY LOCATED AT THE HEART OF THE BUSINESS BUILDING TO ENSURE THAT EACH STUDENT HAS THE SUPPORT AND GUIDANCE TO BE SUCCESSFUL. THE BREEZEWAY WILL BE REPURPOSED INTO A SERIES OF INTERVIEW ROOMS, WHERE STUDENTS WILL BEGIN THE JOURNEY TO THEIR INDIVIDUAL PROFESSION, AND COLLABORATIVE ROOMS, WHERE INTERACTION CAN BE ON DISPLAY. DEPARTMENTAL OFFICES WILL BE LOCATED IN A NEW SPACE ADJACENT TO INTERACTION TERRACES ON EACH FLOOR IN ORDER TO MAKE THEM MORE ACCESSIBLE TO STUDENTS. THIS NEW LOCATION WILL ALSO FREE SPACE IN THE EXISTING BUILDING TO PROVIDE ADDITIONAL COLLABORATION SPACES NEAR FACULTY OFFICES.
ABOVE Interview rooms, which look out
to the garden, can be used for meetings, conferences, or study sessions. BELOW Informal auditorium seating for
lectures, meetings, or group gatherings.
BRANDING [bran-ding] noun the marketing practice of creating a name, symbol or design that identifies and differentiates a product from other products.
GRADUATE LOUNGE
INTERACTION
STUDENT WORKROOM / CONFERENCE
OPEN
GREEN ROOF INTERACTION TERRACE
DEPARTMENT OFFICES
LABORATORY
TERRACE
LEVEL
3 THE THIRD LEVEL FOCUSES ON CONNECTIONS AND BRANDING. ON THE ROOF OF THE STUDENT SUCCESS CENTER, A NEW
INTERACTION TERRACE AND GREEN ROOF WILL PROVIDE SPACE FOR STUDENTS TO MEET. THIS SPACE WILL SERVE AS A LINK CONNECTING INTERACTION SPACES WITHIN THE NORTH WING OF THE BUSINESS BUILDING AND THE COMPUTER LABORATORY ON THE SOUTH WING. LOCATING DEPARTMENTAL OFFICES ON LEVELS 2, 3, AND 4, WHICH ARE VISIBLE FROM ANYWHERE IN THE COURTYARD, WILL ENABLE EACH DEPARTMENT TO HAVE THEIR OWN BRANDING OPPORTUNITY WITHIN THE COLLEGE, CREATING A STRONG OVERALL IDENTITY FOR THE ORFALEA COLLEGE OF BUSINESS.
ABOVE Departmental offices can be
branded to identify the multiple disciplines. BELOW The interaction terrace on the
third level will provide students and faculty with an informal environment to meet and collaborate.
INTERACTION [in-ter-ak-shuh n] noun a mutual or reciprocal action or influence.
INTERACTION
STUDENT WORKROOM / CONFERENCE
INTERACTION
INTERACTION
ADJUNCT FACULTY
LEVEL
4
THE RELOCATION OF THE DEAN’S OFFICE AND DEPARTMENTAL OFFICES LEAVES THE FOURTH FLOOR PRIMARILY FOR FACULTY USES. SPACE WILL INCLUDE THE ADJUNCT FACULTY OFFICES IN THE BUILDING, ALONG WITH STRATEGICALLY PLACED INTERACTION SPACES THAT WILL PROVIDE AREAS FOR FACULTY AND STUDENTS TO MEET IN AD-HOC TEACHING ENVIRONMENTS. WITH THE NEW INTERACTION SPACES AND THE STUDENT WORKROOM / CONFERENCE ROOM, THIS FLOOR WILL RELIEVE THE PRESSURE OF USING LARGE CLASSROOMS FOR SMALL GROUP PROGRAMS, MAKING THE CLASSROOMS MORE AVAILABLE FOR HIGHER-DENSITY PROGRAMMING.
ABOVE Interaction spaces for students
to study independently and work with each other will give students a home in the college. BELOW With the changes in teaching
pedagogy, providing spaces to support teaching outside of the classroom will be essential. These spaces will be comfortable, inviting, and most importantly, flexible.
PROJECT TEAM OWNER
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo Orfalea College of Business ARCHITECT / INTERIOR DESIGNER
ZGF Architects LLP COST ESTIMATOR
The Capital Projects Group
Mary Kelting Assistant Dean for Advancement & External Relations
1 Grand Avenue San Luis Obispo, CA 93407 T 805-756-5177 E mkelting@calpoly.edu