Cal Poly Pomona is located partially within the limits of
Pomona, a largely suburban city that is part of the
Los Angeles metropolitan area. The city of Pomona is located in the eastern portion of
Los Angeles County and borders the neighboring
county of San Bernardino to the east. The university's campus make it the second largest in the
California State University system, a figure which includes various facilities scattered throughout
Southern California such as a ranch in
Santa Paula, California, campus at the former Spadra Landfill (now known as "Spadra Ranch"), and the
Neutra VDL Studio and Residences in
Silver Lake, Los Angeles. The university is currently negotiating the transfer of the 302 acre Lanterman Developmental Center from the State of California. The land is to be used for academic purposes and expansion of the Innovation Village and also shared by the
California Highway Patrol, the
California Air Resources Board and the
California Conservation Corps. Although part of the
Los Angeles metropolitan area, the university is in close proximity to two other large metropolitan and culturally defined regions, the
Inland Empire and
Orange County. The university has a tier 1 area, defined as a geographical admissions region surrounding the campus, roughly bounded by the
San Gabriel Mountains to the north, the city of
Chino Hills to the south,
Interstate 605 to the west, and
Interstate 15 to the east. Cal Poly Pomona's campus buildings vary in age and style from the
Mission Revival Kellogg Horse Stables and the Kellogg House (suggesting the
Spanish colonial architectural heritage of
Southern California) built in the 1920s; the modernist box-like portion of
the library completed in 1969; to contemporary dormitories, engineering, science and library-expansion facilities completed in the early 21st century.
Manor House serves as the official residence of the university president. Leisure and recreational locations include a
rose garden which dates back to the Kellogg horse ranch years; the Kellogg House designed by Los Angeles-based architects Charles Gibbs Adams,
Myron Hunt and Harold Coulson Chambers in the 1920s; and a
Japanese garden built in 2003 and designed by
Takeo Uesugi. Kellogg's House features grounds which were initially landscaped by Charles Gibbs Adams but were later completed by
Florence Yoch & Lucile Council. At the center of the campus and atop Horsehill are the buildings of the
Collins College of Hospitality Management and Kellogg West, a hotel and conference center and home of the student/faculty-run Restaurant at Kellogg Ranch. At the northwest part of the campus is the Voorhis
Ecological Reserve, which serves as a
wildlife corridor containing
Coastal Sage Scrub and
Coast Live Oak trees among others. Contrasting some of these architecturally prominent facilities, there are various
portable buildings on campus which are used to accommodate the growing enrollment of recent decades. Cal Poly Pomona operates the
International Polytechnic High School, a college preparatory high school located on campus. The letters "CPP" made of concrete are located on Colt Hill overlooking the campus. The letters "CP" were initially added in 1959, with the second "P" added in 2004 to distinguish it from the Cal Poly campus in San Luis Obispo. Between 1993 and 2022, Cal Poly Pomona's dominant landmark was a
futurist-styled administrative facility known as the
CLA Building which was designed by
Antoine Predock and opened in 1993. The building's peculiar shape (standing out by a triangular-shaped "skyroom" atop its eight-story tower) became a symbol of the university; in addition, its close location to film studios based in the Hollywood borough of Los Angeles have prompted its inclusion in motion pictures such as
Gattaca and
Impostor. In 2013, the California State University Board of Trustees voted to demolish the building and replace it with a new academic/faculty complex because of severe seismic risks, as determined when now reviewed in the context of more recent seismic research than was required by building codes at the time of its original design and building permit.
Academic and research facilities The
W. K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Center is an academic and research facility serving one of the 22 terms and conditions to the donation of the Kellogg ranch by maintaining Kellogg's purebred
Arabian horses and their breeding program. Another academic facility highlighting the Kellogg legacy is the Horse Stables (also known as University Plaza) which contains a small research library specializing in equine studies along with offices for student services and various campus organizations. Conceived in 1995 by then university president,
Bob H. Suzuki, and initially financed by
NASA and the
Economic Development Administration, the Innovation Village is a public/private partnership research and business facility at the southern edge of the campus. Major tenants include the
American Red Cross,
Southern California Edison, and the NASA Commercialization Center. The project is currently at the halfway mark of building and leasing of the projected total building space. Once complete, it is estimated that the project would employ 2000 to 3000 people and provide half a billion dollars of economic benefits to the local, regional and state economies.
Campus sustainability and transportation at Cal Poly Pomona The university has actively sought to reduce carbon emissions and energy usage on campus. In November 2007, Cal Poly Pomona became a signatory member of the
American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment. Among other things, this committed the university to ensure that within one year, it would purchase or produce at least 15% of the institution's electric consumption from
renewable sources. The university, along with other members in the CSU, is also a member of the
California Climate Action Registry. and lists on ''
The Princeton Review's
Guide to 375 Green Colleges''. As a part of the campus' Climate Action Plan to reduce its carbon footprint, the campus offers incentive parking for students and faculty participating in its Rideshare program. The carpooling initiative gives users the opportunity to park in reserved spaces located closer to campus buildings. Cal Poly Pomona's institute for sustainability education is the
Lyle Center for Regenerative Studies. The center was built adjacent to an old landfill and conducts research in the areas of sustainable technology and agriculture. As an example of
Cradle to Cradle Design, it uses solar-powered dormitories, aquaculture ponds, and organic gardens while providing environmentally sustainable housing accommodation for 22 graduate students. In 2010, with the installation of a 210,000 kW hours
CPV system by
Amonix, the center became the first
carbon neutral facility in the
California State University system. The center is part of Agriscapes, a research project that showcases environmental and agricultural sustainable practices including methods to grow food, conserve water and energy and recycle urban waste. Agriscapes is home of the Farm Store at Kellogg Ranch which sells locally and campus-grown foods and products. Cal Poly Pomona campus also contains a rainforest greenhouse, a California
ethnobotany garden, and an aquatic biology center collectively known as BioTrek, which provides environmental education to all academic levels. The entire campus community is served by a free campus shuttle system known as "Bronco Express" run by the office of Transportation Services. In addition, PTS also offers a shuttle service known as "Metrolink" which provides both students and faculty a direct connection from the Pomona North and Downtown Pomona
Metrolink stations to the
CLA Building.
Seismic risks and other challenges of campus development Although it is believed that the San Jose Fault (indicated by USGS as having a presumed period of 130,000 years) runs through campus, and geotechnical investigations have been conducted, there is uncertainty regarding its precise
type and location. The CLA Building has been said to suffer from "structural flaws" that do not seem to have been clearly publicized, except that they had been "most notably, water intrusion", which continues to be portrayed inaccurately as a "structural flaw". In 2005, the university filed a lawsuit against a contractor, for which it was compensated $13.3 million in an out-of-court
settlement. Amid these concerns, in September 2010, CSU's board of trustees approved a proposal to have the building razed.
Hideo Sasaki's architectural firm, Sasaki Associates, Inc., found in the February 2010
master plan that the campus's
seismic risk, uneven terrain, lack of parking spaces, small classrooms, and pedestrian-unfriendly roads are major constraints for future campus development. It also indicated the lack of identity, an undefined sense of arrival, and a desire to build a stronger on-campus community, among others, as recurrent themes among campus's users. Nonetheless, the firm highlights campus ethnic diversity, its location-climate, and the natural beauty of campus, among others, as positive aspects of the physical campus as well as the campus life experience. It may be appropriate for the CSU ==Organization and administration==