A large white tent stationed within earshot of the Centerpointe Dining Commons allowed the Music Department to conduct essential musical training despite restrictions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Before the start of the fall semester, Music Department Chair Dave Kopplin asked Facilities Planning & Management (FP&M) to formulate a solution that would allow musicians to practice their art in a covered outdoor space but also conform to state Building Code requirements.

The solution devised by FP&M was a tent with open sides that gave musicians enough room to meet social distancing guidelines while letting air circulate around them. The tent served an important role in the music curriculum as a classroom and as a practice and rehearsal space.

With cases of COVID-19 infections falling to its lowest levels in months and the Los Angeles County Department of Heath lifting mask mandates, the tent that had been home to music lessons and practices was taken down in mid-March and returned to the tent rental company.

Aside from securing the tent to ground supports and erecting a stage under the tent, FP&M also connected temporary power, heaters and lighting. Music lessons and rehearsals have been moved back inside to classrooms for the spring semester.

"We in the Music Department really have appreciated it and so many students have had a more normal music-making experience this year due to that tent," Kopplin said. "I know the ensemble directors were pleased that they were able rehearse in an almost 'normal' way."

Aside from music, FP&M led another project to keep students, faculty and staff on the move.

Elevator Modernization

Elevators in six buildings will run with more efficiency and with greater reliability after the completion of a modernization program that started in early 2021.

The project, which was completed with deferred maintenance funding from the CSU Chancellor's Office, reduces the $412 million deferred maintenance backlog at Cal Poly Pomona and provides safe, reliable and Building Code-compliant elevator cars in four campus buildings.

One elevator in Building One, an elevator at the Don B. Huntley College of Agriculture (Building 2), four elevators at the Biotechnology Building (Building 4) and one elevator in the University Office Building (Building 94) underwent overhauls.

In addition, four elevators at the College of Science (Building 8) and one elevator at the College of Education and Integrative Studies (Building 6) were refurbished.

Elevators in the Biotechnology Building were the last to receive certifications in mid-February, just in time for the resumption of in-person classes at Cal Poly Pomona after a nearly two-year suspension brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The elevators that were targeted in the project were all 30 to 40 years old and nearing the end of their service lives. The modernization work ranged from the replacement of elevator cabs to the installation of new cables and motors to the completion of a new elevator shaft.

"The completion of the overhauls should give the campus community peace of mind about the elevators," said Joe Boyer, the elevator modernization project manager. "It's like having new elevators in these buildings."

The overhauled elevators will provide improved reliability and require less maintenance from the university's elevator contractor.

Facilities Design & Construction supervised all aspects of the elevator overhauls. While the pandemic forced Cal Poly Pomona to go with an on-line format, the situation also offered the opportunity to initiate projects, repair work and maintenance with minimal disruption to campus operations.