Architecture Commons^™

Adaptation Of A Seismic Outreach Program: Collaboration Between University Students And Seaoc Mos, Paul Quinter, Ryan Lovejoy, Kristin Potterton, Anahid A. Behrouzi, Lelli Van Den Einde

Architectural Engineering

For nearly two decades, students in University of California, San Diego’s Society of Civil and Structural Engineers (UCSD SCSE) chapter have conducted a Seismic Outreach program that reaches around a thousand 4th and 6th grade students annually. This success motivated an effort to share and deploy the curriculum through other universities. To achieve this, the Structural Engineers Association of San Diego (SEAOSD) sought and received a 2024 National Council of Structural Engineers Associations (NCSEA) grant that supported collaboration between UCSD SCSE, the Structural Engineers Association of Southern California (SEAOSC), and California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly). This …

Navigating The Pathway To Become A Structural Engineering Practitioner-Educator, Kristin Potterton, Anahid A. Behrouzi

Architectural Engineering

Many structural engineers attribute their exposure as students to industry mentors as critical to their recruitment into the profession and the initial development of problem-solving skills they now use in the workplace. The desire to provide similar opportunities to the next generation often motivates practitioners to engage in K-12 outreach or take on university positions to teach courses and advise projects. However, as a young engineer the route to becoming a practitioner-educator is not always clear without an advisor who has sought a similar path that can guide them. To address this, the paper will summarize survey results from practicing …

City Farm Slo - Market Stand Modernization, Juan Diaz

Construction Management

This paper analyzes the design, planning, and buildout of a custom multi-level stand, farm signage, and supporting equipment for the non-profit organization City Farm SLO. The overall goal of the project was to provide the farm with a modernized and functional market space. The project first addressed any owner design requirements, the approval of materials lists, and the assessment of existing conditions. The pre-construction consisted of developed drawings, materials lists, cost estimates, and a project schedule. Aside from setting up requirements, the owner provided specific milestones to be achieved during the construction phase of the project. A major risk found …

Xenaform Algorithm, Alden Ulysses Quandt

Architectural Engineering

This project develops a computer-generated form-finding process for XenaForms, a discrete folded-plate shell system made from rigid triangular panels and hinge-like edge connections. Using Blender and Python, the workflow generates an initial top-down triangular strip, expands it into a fuller shell through stability-guided growth, checks the resulting geometry against a local stability rule, and culls unstable or erroneous elements. The algorithm translates XenaForm stability principles into a usable design tool while also accounting for constructability through sheet-size constraints and geometric collision checks. The result is a Blender-based workflow that can rapidly produce stable, varied XenaForm models for architectural, sculptural, and …

Assessing Video Game Pedagogy For Civil Engineering Education And K-12 Stem Engagement, Jillian Codron, Anahid A. Behrouzi

Architectural Engineering

Traditional civil engineering education is often structured around a “theory before practice” model, where students first learn concepts in lecture and then confirm them in a laboratory setting. This paper explores an alternative approach to this, involving leveraging video games as exploratory, feedback-rich platforms for introducing K-12 students to civil engineering.

The objectives of this work are to: (1) evaluate the educational potential of the selected games, (2) survey undergraduate structural engineering students and current practitioners to assess how gaming has shaped their interest in STEM pathways, (3) conduct interviews with faculty and educators to capture perspectives on integrating game-based …

Addressing Housing Crisis In Reedley, California: A Conceptual Housing Development Proposal, Fabian Urena-Marquez

City and Regional Planning

No abstract provided.

Report On The Ethical Use Of Ai For Participatory Planning, Sahana Kotha, Blythe Wilson

City and Regional Planning

This report provides an overview of key considerations for using artificial intelligence for community engagement in urban planning. As interest in AI adoption in the public sector increases, an understanding of ethical issues is needed to guide responsible AI implementation. Informed by a literature review and interviews with urban planning practitioners and academics, this report describes and analyzes different AI-supported community engagement methods, explores case studies, and outlines key concerns and opportunities for using AI. We recommend that AI use for community engagement prioritizes transparency, human oversight and accountability, intentional AI implementation, and community involvement.

Greenhouse Scan-To-Bim, Mattheus Hsu-Ning Johnson

Architectural Engineering

This senior project focuses on the implementation of Scan-to-BIM software for capturing and modeling an existing building within Experimental Construction laboratory. The design of the project was to model the building using a 3D scan with the support of world measurements to document and create a digital model of the building. By doing this the project can evaluate the effectiveness, efficiency, and accuracy of integrating 3D scanning technologies into BIM modeling.

The project included taking data from a recent scan of the Experimental Construction Laboratory. We then took these scans and imported them to Autodesk Revit to develop a detailed …

Lidar At Poly Canyon, An Binh Chuong

Architectural Engineering

Poly Canyon serves as a living laboratory that reflects Cal Poly’s “Learn by Doing” philosophy through a collection of student-designed and student-constructed structures. Among these is Fratessa Tower, a reinforced concrete observation tower distinguished by its tripod support system, cable-suspended observation deck, and steel spiral staircase. The tower’s unconventional geometry and exposed structural system present unique challenges for documentation, making it well suited for evaluating modern reality-capture and modeling techniques.

This project focused on creating an accurate as-built Building Information Model (BIM) of Fratessa Tower using LiDAR-based scanning, field verification, and Autodesk Revit. Point cloud data were processed to reconstruct …

Flexural Behavior And Failure Mode Assessment Of Concrete-Encased Steel Beams Constructed With Experimental Cardboard Formwork, Luke Robert Jones, Drew Takeshi Kawaguchi

Architectural Engineering

This project investigated the flexural behavior of a concrete-encased W8×13 steel beam detailed without conventional longitudinal reinforcement and constructed using an experimental cardboard/Masonite formwork system. A bare steel control specimen and an encased composite specimen were tested under identical loading conditions to evaluate the effects of concrete confinement and welded transverse reinforcement on lateral-torsional buckling behavior. Results showed that the encased specimen remained laterally stable and developed flexural cracking and concrete crushing rather than the lateral-torsional buckling observed in the control beam. The study also demonstrated that the modified cardboard formwork successfully contained the concrete without the seepage failures observed …

Stem Workshops For Pre-K Students, Sofia Berg, Ashlyn Swoboda

Architectural Engineering

This project involved the development and implementation of a four-part structural engineering workshop series for preschool-aged children at the Orfalea Children’s Center at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. The workshops were designed to introduce fundamental structural engineering concepts through age-appropriate discussions, demonstrations, and hands-on activities focused on engineering careers, structural shapes, skyscrapers, and bridges. The lessons emphasized concepts such as stability, bracing, structural loading, seismic behavior, and iterative design while encouraging collaboration, creativity, and problem solving.

Throughout the workshop series, students actively participated in discussions, demonstrated enthusiasm for engineering activities, and were able to recall concepts introduced in …

Xenaforms: Reinforcing Kinematic Stability Through Rigid Connections, Katherine G. Thies

Architectural Engineering

XenaForms combine rigid planes and straight lines with the fluidity of structural origami to create beautiful, organic folded plate structures. Unlike many conventional structures, folded plate systems derive their stability from the interaction between connected panels, creating the appearance of a single continuous sheet of material. The XenaForm uses structural origami and triangulation to create stable points at the apex of two non-colinear triangles. While it is mathematically true that no moment needs to be transferred across the seam between panels in order to have a stable structure, allowing some moment capacity greatly helps during construction. Specifically, these stiff connections …

Thousand Hills Pet Resort Deck Design, Kenzie Brown

Architectural Engineering

On-site residential units at Thousand Hills Pet Resort currently lack ADA-compliant access, as entry is limited to small, elevated doorways that are only reachable by stairs. A deck connecting the units and providing accessible ingress and egress was designed for this senior project.

In addition to the ADA requirements, the property is expected to undergo significant redevelopment in the coming years. As a result, the deck design must not only meet accessibility needs but also be adaptable and reusable. The final design is a modular deck structure utilizing a hybrid foundation system that facilitates future relocation of the deck. The …

Modular House Design Study, Jordan J. P. Smith

Architectural Engineering

The Modular House is a student designed and constructed structure in Poly Canyon. For decades it served as a home for the Canyon’s caretakers who maintained the structures, looked over the Canyon, and helped construct student projects. After being abandoned for a variety of reasons, the structure now currently stands as an open-air pavilion.

This project studies The Modular House as a unique and storied site and proposes a theoretical retrofit to make the structure habitable again. Historical documents, past senior projects, images, and firsthand accounts were reviewed to understand the site’s history and how it changed over time. In …

Design And Implementation Of A Honeycomb Damping System For The 2026 Eeri Seismic Design Competition, Vera Nguyen, Lauryn Wojcik

Architectural Engineering

The authors of this report were a part of the 2026 Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) chapter at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. In July 2026, they will travel to Portland, Oregon with 12 students to compete in the Undergraduate Seismic Design Competition hosted by EERI. The competition required teams to develop a comprehensive structural design proposal that included computer-based modeling and analysis, construction of three physical models, and the preparation of both a technical poster and oral presentation for a proposed high-rise building located in Portland, Oregon. Cal Poly’s “Illahee Tower” was designed with an emphasis on …

Caed Shop Entrance Wall Construction, Mason Neil Mitchell, Benjamin Joseph Rohrer

Architectural Engineering

This project involves the demolition and reconstruction of the CAED Support Shop Wall at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. The project was designed as a multidisciplinary project, combining architectural engineering and construction management students who collaborated on the rehabilitation of an existing structure. This project aimed to use “replication” as a means of historical preservation and restoration, specifically in the fabrication of custom CMU members.

Concrete And Masonry Code (Beams), Michael Alexander Simas Rocha

Architectural Engineering

This report only covers the beam design of the code that was written. The end goal of this project is to write code for concrete and masonry following what was taught in the lecture classes. This project is acting as a foundation for the end goal of a program that can compete with SAP2000, ETABS, RISA, and others. One final goal is to have the print out have the look and feel of having been done by hand. While coding; several factors were recorded including time spent coding, debugging, and then to do three problems by hand vs how long …

The Xenaform: Structure Through Geometry, Justin Tobias Mendoza Ocampo, Emily Marie Labrador, Banyan Walker, Paul Minchev, Brayden Sean Kelleher, Ethan Mario Ceccarelli

Architectural Engineering

The XenaForm is a geometry-driven structural system that incorporates complex forms generated from simple rules of stability, inspired by the work of Iannis Xenakis and reworked by Professor Edmond Saliklis. This project investigates how structural stability can be achieved through geometric configurations rather than a reliance upon material strength alone. By utilizing the design principles of trilateration and the interconnection of triangular panels, the XenaForm was constructed in accordance with the rules of the International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures Pavilion Competition. The team generated several design iterations and selected a final design to fabricate and construct, considering affordability, …

Completing The Street: Rapid Redesign Of Citywide Road Networks Using Arcgis, Davidson Drake

City and Regional Planning

This paper was written by Davidson Drake, a student at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and a volunteer with the City of Pomona Planning Department. The mapping, design, and analysis documented in this paper were produced by the author for the City of Pomona as part of its Complete Streets work. While the work shown here is the author’s own, the broader project would not be possible without the efforts of Karla Foster and Max Pastore, who contributed key components to the project.

Pomona’s Complete Streets project represents an ambitious effort to rethink the city’s street network as …

Greenway Connect, Julia Xaning Kung, Kaleah Cruz, Lila Citlali Roake

City and Regional Planning

This project is developed in response to the American Planning Association’s Student Planning and Design Competition 2026 and fulfills the senior project requirement for a Bachelor of Science in City and Regional Planning from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

The site consists of the core development area and the framework area, both of which reflect the historical significance and prospective future of the area. The framework area contains multiple industrial sites; Lyndon Street formerly housed multiple textile and manufacturing warehouses that supplied businesses along Livernois Avenue of Fashion. The site also includes the Intervale-Roselawn Park, which has recently …

City Farm Slo Brooding Box, Jon Travis W. Black

Construction Management

The Brooding Box Project, completed by a California Polytechnic State University Construction Management student, aimed to provide additional chicken housing and secure storage for City Farm SLO, a local nonprofit farm located in San Luis Obispo. Led by Travis Black under the guidance of Shane Lovell, one of the farm’s caretakers, the project combined basic, hands-on construction skills with community service. Using the client’s initial design concept and purchasing the required materials independently, the project focused on durability, functionality, and cost-efficiency. Since the project was self-funded, careful budgeting and material selection were essential to ensure structural integrity while meeting the …

Sheep Pen Improvements At City Farm Slo, Rylan Joseph Hickman

Construction Management

This project took place on a non-profit community farming space called City Farm SLO which provides opportunities for local small scale independent farmers to farm and provide crops to the community. Our project provided improvements to the livestock pen that they have on the farm which is home to chickens and a flock of sheep. The main goal of this project was to provide a better living environment for the sheep including a 50 cubic yard sheep hill, a vehicle access gate, a side gate, a front catch pen, a back corral, and protective fencing for a guava tree. Within …

Advertisement Recognition And Recall In Urban Environments, Carson L. Ambrose

Graphic Communication

Why is it that certain advertisements are so much easier to remember than others? And how can places like Times Square actually be communicating effectivly through the dense amount of different ads? This project aims to get closer to finding out how design and environmental ad density effect advertisement recognition and recall. To capture the real-world feeling of a dense city, a 3D printed one was created to allow for custom testing and various locations meant for displaying custom advertisements. These ads would be created using a variety of design characteristics such as color, hierarchy, composition, typography, and over all …

Perception Is Reality: Evaluating Transportation Satisfaction And Utilization In Continuing Student Housing At Cal Poly, Lucas Owens

Master's Theses

As higher education institutions increasingly mandate on-campus living to foster student success, the built environment becomes a critical determinant of daily mobility. California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) is transitioning to a two-year residency requirement and tightening vehicle restrictions. This thesis evaluates how the spatial and built-environment realities of peripheral housing complexes in Cerro Vista Apartments and Poly Canyon Village shape student transportation satisfaction and utilization, and emergency evacuation preparedness.

Employing a mixed-methods approach, this research triangulates data from 79 student surveys and 10 semi-structured interviews. The findings indicate that supplementing traditional metrics of proximity with localized spatial data presents …

Mineral King Cabin Roof Rennovation, Leilani G. Lau

Architectural Engineering

This project explored performance-based design by analyzing and redesigning the roof for a cabin built in the 1950s and located in Mineral King Valley in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, California. The Sierra Nevada Mountains experience heavy amounts of snow during the winter season. In the winter, the cabin is unoccupied, so the performance objective was collapse prevention, rather than life safety. Since the performance objective focused on collapse prevention at a time when the building was unoccupied, the probability of failure did not need to be low, so safety factors were omitted. This approach required deeper understanding of the code …

Designing For Dementia: Lessons In Using Wayfinding, Design, And Policy To Retrofit Neighborhoods For People Living With Dementia, Kiaya Siu Ling Batkin

City and Regional Planning

With advancements of modern medicine, more people are living longer lives. However, cognitive decline has become a greater issue faced by a growing number of people. The amount of People Living With Dementia (PLWD) has increased substantially, almost 10 million a year, and as such need different living conditions than what used to serve them (Alzheimer’s Disease International, n.d.). The common solution in the western world is to care for elders in specific sites for them like nursing homes or to hire a live-in nurse to care for them. These services are costly, highly specialized, and tailored to care for …

Analysis Of City Planning For Autism Spectrum Disorder, Joshua Ericson, Ben Shane

City and Regional Planning

Whether formally diagnosed or self-diagnosed, autism spectrum disorder affects children and adults in every corner of the planet. Every city in the world likely has autistic residents who have difficulty living in navigating their city due to their unique sensory, social, and economic needs. Many of these needs affect autistic people’s abilities to comfortably and independently navigate public spaces, attain a reliable method of transportation, and find housing that suits their needs. These issues could all be addressed with city planning and neuro-inclusive public policies, but to date few cities have considered autistic people in their planning. Cities inadvertently exclude …

North Fair Oaks Specific Plan, Carlos Robinson

City and Regional Planning

The North Fair Oaks Specific Plan guides development of the North Fair Oaks Focus Area as defined in the City of Arroyo Grande General Plan by defining land uses, delineating a multimodal circulation system, and outlining ideal development standards in accordance with various local, regional, and state plans.

The Dumbarton Flyer Initiative Study: A Conceptual Plan, Aaron Posternack

City and Regional Planning

The Dumbarton Flyer Initiative Study is a comprehensive and ambitious vision for a study corridor that stretches from Fremont on the East Bay to Redwood City on the Peninsula within the San Francisco Bay Area (Bay Area) of California. It advocates for significant changes to how localities and regions embrace transportation and land use planning. The literature asserts that these two aspects of planning should be inseparable from each other. This assertion particularly holds if the Bay Area seeks to construct additional rail transit lines and to maximize their benefits. Additionally, the transportation mode of “automated light metro”, which this …

Reimagining The Laguna Lake Driving Range, Audrey Bonifacio, Jessica Rice

City and Regional Planning

The Laguna Lake Municipal Golf Course is located in San Luis Obispo, California, and is operated by the city. Recently, the community, city staff, and the City Council have begun a conversation regarding the use of the golf course. To explore the different uses, this senior project presents four alternative developments for a selected area of the golf course. These four uses include enhancing the existing driving range, a sports facility, a children’s center, and a senior living community. To assess these alternatives, the project explores current urban planning theories, development trends, and case studies for each use. Through this …