Image courtesy of Steinberg Hart

By BARBARA HORWITZ-BENNETT

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. – A significant expansion is afoot as part of California Polytechnic (Cal Poly) State University’s Future Housing Plan.

A $1.2 billion, multiphase student housing expansion will add approximately 3,600 new student beds and renovate roughly 1,200 existing beds on the school’s campus in San Luis Obispo.

Architect Steinberg Hart and contractors Suffolk are and Whiting-Turner are utilizing modular construction for cost savings, construction efficiencies and enhanced quality control. The building team is also tapping advanced digital modeling, geospatial positioning and artificial intelligence-powered planning tools to ensure exact unit stacking.

“Affordable housing is such a big problem, especially on the West Coast. We need to think differently about how we approach housing and continue to improve the process,” stated Mike McCormick, AIA, vice president of facilities management & development at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. “We’ve assembled a team of professionals committed to rethinking how we deliver housing, and FullStack Modular’s innovative approach is a huge part of that. It’s a solution that not only meets Cal Poly’s needs but is transportable to other housing projects across the country.”

This part of the program involves the construction of two student housing buildings. Building A is slated for completion in the fall and will house approximately 500 students while Building B, for 700 students, will open in the fall of 2027.