CalPoly Pomona

Pomona, California

When the Precast Studio at CalPoly Pomona started in 2009, it was only the third studio funded by the PCI Foundation. Since that time, thanks to the work of the local precasters, PCI West, and the school, the studio has continued on in various formats with a number of professors at its helm. In 2021, the original professor, Axel Schmitzberger, returned to teach the studio.

When coming back to the studio, Schmitzberger needed a project to teach precast that would allow students to be creative and learn design, and still best use the precast concrete elements. “I started researching what project made sense for precast concrete, and decided to look at tsunami evacuation facilities,” says Schmitzberger.

Because the students were all learning remotely, teaching the course meant Schmitzberger needed to make some adjustments to studio. He chose to have the students work in teams and used some of the PCI West funding to equip students with virtual reality headsets so they could position themselves in the building, conduct walk throughs, and better understand the modular assembly.