Cal Poly at San Luis Obispo

Prominently located adjacent to the Grand Avenue entrance of the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo campus, the complex consists of seven three-to five-story residence hall buildings for up to 1,475 students, as well as an adjacent four-level parking structure.

Views opening to the ring of the Seven Sisters, the hilltops that wrap the campus, give students a deep sense of rootedness in the local landscape. The university partnered with the local Northern Chumash tribe, yak titʸu titʸu yak tiłhini, to provide direction for creating environmental graphics for each of the residence halls. These graphics tell the stories of the landscape of seven Northern Chumash villages along the Central Coast, including flora and fauna. Each residence hall draws its name from a tribal village: elewexe, nipumuʔ, tiłhini, tsɨtqawɨ, tšɨłkukunɨtš, tsɨtpxatu, and tsɨtkawayu.

The large graphics painted on the concrete walls tell each building’s main landscape story as well as individual substories that add depth. Within each building, every floor has its own wall art reflecting elements of the main story (ground floor) and substories (upper floors). The wall art, which was approved by the tribal team, was applied with stencils and hand-painting. The goal was to increase students’ respect for the land and its ecosystems, for each other, and for the cultural heritage of the place they live.