The Classroom, Laboratory & Administration Building, commonly known simply as the CLA Building, was an administrative building on the campus of

California State Polytechnic University, Pomona California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona, CPP, or Cal Poly"Cal Poly" may also refer to California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo in San Luis Obispo. See the '' name'' section of this article for more info ...

(Cal Poly Pomona). Designed by

Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...

-based architect

Antoine Predock Antoine Predock ( ; born 1936 in Lebanon, Missouri) is an American architect based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He is the principal of Antoine Predock Architect PC, the studio he founded in 1967. Predock first gained national attention with the La ...

in the

Futurist Futurists (also known as futurologists, prospectivists, foresight practitioners and horizon scanners) are people whose specialty or interest is futurology or the attempt to systematically explore predictions and possibilities abou ...

style and completed in 1993, it has come to be the defining image of the university. The Administration portion of the building was demolished in August 2022 after a discovery of a fault line under the building. CLA building complex

Its pointed, triangular and open top made it the most distinct tower on the university campus. According to Predock, "inevitably, human settlement alters the landscape. Successive habitation has altered the

Pomona Valley The Pomona Valley is located in the Greater Los Angeles Area between the San Gabriel Valley and San Bernardino Valley in Southern California. The valley is approximately east of downtown Los Angeles. History On March 1, 1893 the California A ...

from the original dry swept earth of

Rancho San Jose Rancho or Ranchos may refer to: Settlements and communities *Rancho, Aruba, former fishing village and neighbourhood of Oranjestad *Ranchos of California, 19th century land grants in Alta California **List of California Ranchos *Ranchos, Buenos Ai ...

. Now the verdant Arabian horse ranch of

W.K. Kellogg William Keith Kellogg (April 7, 1860 – October 6, 1951), generally referred to as W.K. Kellogg, was an American industrialist in food manufacturing, best known as the founder of the Kellogg Company, which produces a wide variety of popular ...

coexists with the technological, superscale freeway interchange." Due to Cal Poly Pomona's proximity to the

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

district of

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

, the building has been displayed in films such as ''

Gattaca ''Gattaca'' is a 1997 American dystopian science fiction thriller film written and directed by Andrew Niccol in his filmmaking debut. It stars Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman with Jude Law, Loren Dean, Ernest Borgnine, Gore Vidal, and Alan Arkin ap ...

'' and ''

Impostor An impostor (also spelled imposter) is a person who pretends to be somebody else, often through means of disguise. Their objective is usually to try to gain financial or social advantages through social engineering, but also often for purposes ...

'', as well as several TV commercials for products such as cars and cell phones. Cal Poly Pomona changed its logo in 1994 after the opening of the building. The CLA building sat directly above the

San Jose Hills The San Jose Hills are a part of the Transverse Ranges in eastern Los Angeles County, California, marking the border between the San Gabriel Valley and the Pomona Valley. It includes portions of Covina, West Covina, Walnut, Pomona, and San Dim ...

fault and had the second-highest seismic "risk score" of 72.94, in the

California State University The California State University (Cal State or CSU) is a public university system in California. With 23 campuses and eight off-campus centers enrolling 485,550 students with 55,909 faculty and staff, CSU is the largest four-year public univers ...

system, after a building at

CSU East Bay California State University, East Bay (Cal State East Bay, CSU East Bay, or CSUEB) is a public university in Hayward, California. The university is part of the 23-campus California State University system and offers 136 undergraduate and 60 pos ...

(

Warren Hall E. Guy Warren Hall, commonly known as Warren Hall, was a 13-story building at California State University, East Bay. It was the signature building of the campus in Hayward, California, overlooking the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Are ...

). It suffered no structural damage as a result of the July 29,

2008 Chino Hills earthquake The 2008 Chino Hills earthquake occurred at 11:42:15 am PDT (18:42:15 UTC) on July 29 in Southern California. The epicenter of the magnitude 5.4 earthquake was in Chino Hills, c. east-southeast of downtown Los Angeles. Though there wer ...

, a magnitude 5.4. It leaked water since it was completed in 1993, and connections and beams at the building did not meet California earthquake safety standards. The University won a $13.3 million settlement after a lawsuit with the contractor who built the building. It needed so much work that university officials began contemplating tearing it down. The CSU Board of Trustees, at its September 21, 2010 meeting, approved a proposal to replace the CLA with a new facility. All administrative offices located in the "tower" portion of the CLA were moved to the Student Services Building (SSB). The SSB (colloquially known as the "Spaceship" or the " Pringle") opened in Spring 2019 and is located directly southwest from where the CLA once stood. The Cal Poly Pomona logo was also changed in 2018 concurrent with the disuse of the CLA tower. The removal of the Administration portion of the building, including the Registrar area began in May 2022 and was completed by the end of summer. The CLA site is planned to be used for green space and outdoor seating and studying areas. The Classroom and Laboratory portions of the building are to be renovated and placed back in service, which has been controversial among some students and faculty.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cla Building California State Polytechnic University, Pomona Modernist architecture in California Futurist architecture Antoine Predock buildings Buildings and structures in Pomona, California 1993 establishments in California School buildings completed in 1993