Architecture Commons^™

Middle Plaza Redesign, Marlo Lavacude-Klenck

City and Regional Planning

Middle Plaza Redesign presents a conceptual redevelopment of Middle Plaza, an 8.43-acre site located at 500 El Camino Real in Menlo Park, California. Originally developed as a mixed-use project in the 2010s, the redesign evaluates the site through the regulatory atmosphere, market conditions, and housing needs of 2025.

The project examines site conditions, market demand, state and local planning frameworks, and applicable development standards, including recent California housing legislation that eliminates parking minimums and streamlines environmental review. A financial feasibility analysis using proforma modeling evaluates two investment scenarios and demonstrates the economic challenges of delivering high-density rental housing despite regulatory …

A Reflective Case Study: Mission Plaza Enhancement Project, Emma J. Roeller, Sheridan R. Green

City and Regional Planning

This reflective case study examines the purpose and process that has guided the Mission Plaza Enhancement Project. This leads us to our research question:

How do foundational theories of behavior in public space in tandem with evolving community needs shape the motivations and process behind the Mission Plaza Enhancement Project? What lessons can be drawn from observed behavioral patterns and planner perspectives to inform future phases of the plan?

To gain a deeper understanding of what makes a public space successful and how to record and analyze behavior in a public space, we will use foundational planning literature from the …

Riverbend Ranch Mixed-Use Development Project, Anthony James Sousa

City and Regional Planning

This senior project is a proposed mixed-use development project in the City of Visalia, California. The scope of work includes site analysis and site plan development formatted in a comprehensive development package. This project aims to set a precedent for future development in the City of Visalia by increasing density to meet housing requirements and incorporating various urban agricultural uses to reconnect the urban and rural relationship. Additionally, the project includes a literature review on urban agriculture to explain its role in planning practice.

Slo Botanical Garden Lean-To Carport, Saul Gracian, Sergio Gonzalez

Construction Management

This paper documents the planning, design, funding, and construction of a lean-to carport for the San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden, completed as a student-led Construction Management senior project by Saul Gracian and Sergio Gonzalez. The purpose of the project was to provide a functional storage structure for garden equipment while applying construction management principles in a real-world, nonprofit setting. The project methodology included site evaluation, collaborative design development, cost estimating, funding acquisition, regulatory review, and hands-on construction. Design decisions were informed by site constraints, county code requirements, budget limitations, and stakeholder input, resulting in a final 10’ x 12’ structure …

Skip The Grid 25-26: A Safety-Driven Solar Installation Project In The Navajo And Hopi Nations, James R. Wall

Construction Management

Skip the Grid is an interdisciplinary service-learning project that provides sustainable energy solutions to families with school-aged children living in the Navajo and Hopi Nations. In March 2026, a team of 23 students from five academic disciplines at California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) partnered with Heart of America, SOLV Energy, and NextPower to complete the fifth year of the program. The project's purpose was to improve quality of life and support educational success by providing reliable access to electricity, lighting, and refrigeration in underserved communities. Participants were organized into five installation teams consisting of Cal Poly students, faculty, industry …

Life Cycle Assessment And Cost Analysis Of Exterior, Electrical, And Appliance Systems In A Prefabricated Mass Timber Residential Unit, Ella Rohrbough

Construction Management

This study presents a detailed process-based life cycle assessment and life cycle cost analysis of selected building systems within a prefabricated mass timber residential unit constructed through an interdisciplinary design build project at California Polytechnic State University. The research focuses specifically on exterior envelope systems electrical infrastructure and major appliances. Material quantities were derived from a comprehensive construction material takeoff and modeled in OpenLCA using the ecoinvent database. A cradle to site system boundary including modules A1 through A5 was applied to quantify embodied environmental impacts such as global warming potential acidification fossil fuel depletion and human toxicity. Results indicate …

Childhood Through Motion: Reimagining Everyday Mobility Corridors For Learning, Independence, And Exploration, Olivia Liljegren

City and Regional Planning

This project proposes the Childhood Through Motion (CTM) Framework, which reimagines how everyday mobility corridors can support children’s development through repeated engagement with integrated interventions along key neighborhood routes. Building on existing approaches such as Safe Routes to School and Playful Learning Landscapes, the framework integrates mobility, play, learning, and social interaction into a connected system of corridors and nodes distributed throughout a neighborhood street network. Rather than treating mobility, play, and learning as separate, the framework explores how developmental opportunities can be integrated into the public spaces children use every day.

The framework is organized through five guiding principles …

Building Roads To Engagement: A Survey Of Post-Secondary Community Engagement Education In Transportation, Meghan E. Kolin

Master's Theses

Community engagement is a critical part of the urban planning process for both academics and practitioners, but transportation planning’s significant technical knowledge requirements and focus on special interest groups make such engagement difficult. As such, college- and graduate-level transportation planning programs must include significant education about public participation practices. However, little research exists regarding how community engagement is taught in these programs or how well this education prepares students for real-world practice. This research is aimed at filling this gap by answering two questions: first, how transportation-focused post-secondary programs in the United States conduct community engagement education; and second, whether …

Performance Of Reinforced Concrete Wall With Discrete Frp Boundary Element Retrofit, Katelyn Lowry, Roger Biddle, Peter Laursen, Anahid A. Behrouzi, Cole Mcdaniel

Architectural Engineering

This paper presents experimental results for a lightly reinforced concrete (LRC) shear wall retrofitted with discrete fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) strips at the boundary zones. The performance of this wall was evaluated through cyclic lateral load testing and compared with a wall retrofitted with continuous FRP at the boundary zones (Duong et al., 2024). Test results showed that the wall retrofitted with discrete strips exhibited a flexural tensile failure characterized by wide flexural cracks confined between FRP strips and rebar fracture at high drifts, while maintaining displacement compatibility and axial load capacity beyond strength degradation. Compared to the continuous FRP retrofit, …

Building A Sustainable Home On The Central Coast: An Owner’S Perspective, Austin Chase Anderson

Construction Management

As awareness and technology increase, sustainability as a focus in home construction is also increasing. This case study based research project seeks to understand the process of building a home on California’s Central Coast with sustainability in mind. An interview was conducted with an owner who built their home in Templeton in 2019. The interview was in a semi-structured format which included specific qualitative questions but mostly focused on an open-ended discussion which allowed the owner to share their own experience. The key challenges learned from this interview were that the owner believed price to be the main factor that …

Design-Build Capstone Projects: Continuing The Poly Canyon Legacy Of Learn-By-Doing, Anahid A. Behrouzi, Brayden A. Martinez, William R. Adam

Architectural Engineering

In the 1960s around ten acres of land behind the main campus of California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo were set aside for students from the College of Architecture and Environmental Design to experiment with structural forms, materials, and construction methods. The publicly accessible Poly Canyon site has amassed a collection of structures: bridges crossing a seasonal creek, caretaker housing, a greenhouse, multiple sculptures and observation structures, among others. There were ebbs and flows of construction activity in Poly Canyon, often seeing a decade of activity with as much time dormant in between.

This paper focuses on the …

Incorporating Ai Into A Structural Engineering Computer Lab, Allen Estes, Peter T. Laursen

Architectural Engineering

Given rapidly increasing sophistication and wide public access to Artificial Intelligence (AI) software, the academic community is struggling with how to best incorporate this new technology into the classroom. The challenge is to use and leverage the capabilities of this new tool to enhance the academic experience without compromising student learning, engineering rigor or academic integrity. This paper describes and assesses the incorporation of AI into an existing computer laboratory course in an undergraduate structural engineering program.

ARCE 352 (Structural Computing I) is a one-unit computer laboratory that is a companion course to ARCE 302 (Structural Analysis) at xx university. …

Downtown L.A. To Glendale Light Rail Line Project Study, Alaina Michelle Ortiz

City and Regional Planning

Los Angeles is undergoing a transit revival driven by persistent traffic congestion, a growing population, and an evolving mindset that increasingly favors public transportation.

As Los Angeles prepares for the future, it finds valuable lessons in its past. This light rail proposal draws inspiration from the extensive Pacific Electric Railway system that once formed the backbone of L.A. County’s transit network. Specifically, this study reimagines segments of the historic Glendale-Burbank Line, Echo Park Local Line, and San Fernando Valley Line. These routes once covered key corridors such as Sunset Boulevard and Brand Boulevard, but today, they are underserved by rail …

Eeri 2024: Seattle Solstice, Elizabeth P. Splees

Architectural Engineering

This senior project documents the design, analysis, construction, and testing of Seattle Solstice, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo’s entry to the 2024 EERI Seismic Design Competition. Developed through ARCE 453, the interdisciplinary effort involved architectural, structural, and geotechnical coordination in response to a fictional client brief set in downtown Seattle. The team designed a five-foot-tall balsa wood tower with a shifting vertical massing, integrating sustainability features and public use spaces while addressing seismic challenges such as center of mass vs. rigidity alignment, overturning risk, and off-grid load paths. The structure was modeled using ETABS and evaluated using both numerical …

Tanzania Mbesese Initiative 2025, Genevieve Marie Tedder, Frances Street, Audrey Wojcik, Alex Trujillo, Tristen Mullin, Jessica Jane, Anna Marie Langer, Carissa Castro, Molly Linong Rojec, Haley Pilcher

Architectural Engineering

The Tanzania Mbesese Initiative is an ongoing project based in Same, Tanzania. The Mbesese Initiative for Sustainable Design (MISD) is working in collaboration with ARUP and Cal Poly to develop a polytechnic college for the community in Same. Our team of ten students aims to support the design and construction process of the project.

Outdoor Exercise Area Renovation, Hagan T. Jackson, Chet S. Crummett, Jesse E. Muth

Architectural Engineering

The Outdoor Exercise Area Renovation project revitalizes a well-used outdoor exercise area located near the baseball fields at Cal Poly. The existing exercise equipment, originally donated by Maino Construction, was weathered, but the area remained well-utilized and presented potential for revitalization. This project transforms the site into a functional and resilient space by replacing the pull-up and dip bar equipment, constructing a 300 square foot pavilion, and adding a concrete slab and integrated concrete benches. The new design enhances usability, providing a multifunctional area for the Cal Poly community to exercise, socialize, relax, and enjoy scenic views.

The renovated area …

Untold Stories Bench Project, Elijah Labb

Architectural Engineering

No abstract provided.

Cementing Co2 Into C-S-H: A Step Toward Carbon Neutrality, Or A Step In The Wrong Direction?, John Reilly Benn, Tahne Larson

Architectural Engineering

As greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, many in the construction industry are looking for sustainable solutions to reduce its carbon footprint. One of the biggest contributors to atmospheric CO2 comes from cement production. In 2023, researchers at MIT explored ways to enhance concrete’s natural ability to act as a carbon sink. Concrete does this unassisted through a chemical reaction called carbonation, by which atmospheric carbon bonds to key components in cement. The researchers at MIT proposed a process of early-stage forced carbonation, which can be induced by the addition of NaHCO3 into a standard concrete mix. Sodium bicarbonate, or …

Physical Construction Of 1/2 Scale Concrete Wall, Alicia Danielle Lee, Cali Jeanne Carson

Architectural Engineering

This senior project was the physical construction and material testing of the half-scale reinforced concrete wall specimens. This included all stages of the building process, from formwork and reinforcement to concrete placement and laboratory testing.

The Xenaform, Cassadie J. Golding

Architectural Engineering

The XenaForm explores how complex, expressive structures can emerge from simple, low-tech construction methods using principles of parametric design and structural geometry. By combining folded plate techniques with modular tetrahedral components, the project bridges high-tech digital modeling and hands-on physical fabrication. The result is a lightweight, buildable system that reclaims the engineer’s role as a form-finder.

Practical Integration Of Reality Capture In Architecture, Engineering, Construction, And Operations (Aeco) Workflows: Cost And Application Considerations, Dylan T. Ramsey

Architectural Engineering

This paper explores the practical integration of Reality Capture (RC) technologies, specifically LiDAR and photogrammetry, within Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Operations (AECO) workflows. As interest in RC grows, costs decrease, and industry applications expand, this paper aims to clarify the current landscape of research, industry practices, hardware, and software. It provides managers, RC technology enthusiasts, and AECO professionals considering its implementation with essential insights into cost considerations, expectations, and limitations. The paper details common research and industry applications, including as-built documentation, surface analysis, and deflection monitoring, and cross-references cost data and project requirements to provide informed recommendations and considerations for …

C.H.I.I.P., Continuous Health Information For Infrastructure Protection, Lariel Sasha Henley

Architectural Engineering

This paper presents the development and validation of CHIIP (Continuous Health Information for Infrastructure Protection), a wireless structural health monitoring (SHM) device designed to provide accessible, real-time data on structural performance of building structures following a seismic event. The system integrates inclinometers, accelerometers, linear potentiometers, and strain gauges with ESP32 microcontrollers to create a compact and robust data collection device that can transmit synchronized sensor data via Wi-Fi to a remote server. A web-based interface enables users to access and download live data for rapid structural evaluation. The device was tested in three phases: a small-scale wired baseline test, a …

Concrete Mix Designs With Shrinkage Reducing Admixture, Beau Usry, Julio Munoz Tanaka

Architectural Engineering

The goal of this project was to explore how shrinkage-reducing admixtures (SRAs) affect the strength and overall performance of concrete. While SRAs are typically used to help reduce shrinkage and cracking, it is less common to see how they might affect compressive strength directly. To test this, three different concrete mixes were made: a control mix with no admixture, one mix with 1% SRA, and another with 3% SRA. The idea was to compare how each mix performed under the same testing conditions.

Architectural Engineering Institute: International Student Design Competition 2025, Alexandra Marie Kersting, Alec Thomas Gibbs, Haley Francesca Sousa, Kline Genevieve Nickel

Architectural Engineering

The AEI International Student Design Competition is an annual competition held by the Architectural Engineering Institute that aims to replicate an integrated building design process. The 2025 Cal Poly team consisted of 4 Architectural Engineering students, each competing in the Structural and Integration disciplines. The team was provided a set of architectural drawings and a 3D architectural Revit model of Carson Headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska. The team was tasked with the creation of a complete structural design as well as a discussion of integration of other building design disciplines.

Modal Analysis Of Cal Poly’S Kennedy Library Using Computational Modeling, Joseph Mangan

Architectural Engineering

This project determines the modal parameters of the Robert E. Kennedy Library at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo using ETABS. Similar analyses on the building have been performed in the past by other Architectural Engineering students. The recent renovation of the library which included a seismic retrofit provides the opportunity to understand how the modal response of concrete structures can be influenced by retrofit practices. This project provides insight into how computational modeling can be used to accurately represent real conditions, and how isolated changes from the retrofit affect the structure’s modal response.

Assessing The Impact Of The Women In Construction Leadership Course And Disc Training On The Construction Industry For Students And Recent Graduates, Amanda E. Mcdowell

Construction Management

This study examined the impact of the Women in Construction Leadership Course, paired with DISC training, on students transitioning into the construction industry. The DISC instrument classifies behaviors into four personality types (i.e., Dominant, Influencer, Steady, Conscientious) and the training helped students identify each personality type to improve their communication skills. Although technical skills are essential for completing daily tasks, effective leadership and communication are crucial to project success. This research explored how DISC training can improve new hires’ perceptions of their abilities to interact and communicate with their project team members. Through a survey of course participants, the study …

R.A.C.E. Matters Precast Concrete Bench Construction, Jack Alexander Ritchie

Construction Management

This senior project details the collaborative design, fabrication, and installation of three precast concrete benches for the nonprofit organization R.A.C.E. Matters in partnership with the San Luis Obispo Conservancy. The benches were designed to act as platforms for public art, amplifying diverse racial narratives through murals. A multidisciplinary team of students from Construction Management, Architecture, and Architectural Engineering worked together, with each discipline contributing to distinct phases of the project. Bench installations took place at the Pismo Preserve, the Octagon Barn, and Kathleen’s Overlook. This paper reflects on the hands-on construction process, the challenges of interdisciplinary coordination, and the real-world …

Untold Stories – Precast Concrete Bench Construction And Installation, Lucas Llodra

Construction Management

This paper outlines the design-build process led by an interdisciplinary team of Construction Management students from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, to construct four concrete benches. In collaboration with faculty, concrete specialists, and the non-profit organization R.A.C.E. Matters, the project launched in Winter 2025. R.A.C.E. Matters initiated the effort by requesting the design and installation of benches at scenic, high-visibility locations managed by the San Luis Obispo Land Conservancy: Pismo Preserve, the Octagon Barn, and Kathleen’s Overlook. The full project scope included design development, structural calculations, prefabrication, on-site construction, and final installation. Each bench will serve as a …

Renovations At The Ranch Slo, Gerardo Valenciano-Valdivia

Construction Management

The Ranch SLO is a non-profit organization that hopes to aid adults with developmental disabilities by providing outdoor employment opportunities. In the ten-and-a-half-acre property, the employees engage in a variety of different activities, ranging from planting and growing different plants, to caring for farm animals. Some of the structures in the ranch have a long time in service and need reinforcing/renovations, this project focused on two main areas where renovations took place. The first area was a garden table area equipped with a total of 10 garden tables and a shade structure covering exactly half of the tables. The main …

Skip The Grid 2025: Providing Power In The Navajo Nation, Daniel R. Lombardi

Construction Management

Skip the Grid is an interdisciplinary initiative aimed at supporting the Navajo Nation by providing access to off-grid power to improve quality of life. This year, the Skip the Grid team centered its efforts around the Chinle Unified School District in Chinle, Arizona. This collaborative effort was composed of an interdisciplinary team of California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) students, along with industry partners including SOLV Energy, Heart of America, Goal Zero, and Nextracker. Many families in the Navajo Nation still live without access to reliable electricity. Between March 23rd and March 27th, 2025, the Skip the Grid team successfully …