 "Photo: Chris Sloan/Poly Post")
Originally named the Center for Regenerative Studies upon opening in 1994, the center is the ‘brainchild’ of the late John T. Lyle, a Cal Poly landscape architecture professor.
It was renamed the Lyle Center in 1999 in honor of Lyle, who passed away in 1998.
“The CRS is Cal Poly Pomona’s best kept secret,” said Justin Wood, a third-year architecture student and resident of Sunspace, one of two dormitories on the site.
CRS is known to exemplify education, outreach and demonstration through five areas Lyle researched: buildings, energy, food, waste and human communities.
Sustainable living is demonstrated in projects and graduate students’ theses all throughout the CRS.
The ‘Commons’ is the local mess hall where the 20 residents can come together to prepare meals and eat food consisting mostly of ingredients cultivated on site.
The Commons is the only unit in the entirety of CRS that has air conditioning.
CRS has a mostly edible landscape with fruit trees bearing figs, persimmons, and more. It is a micro-environment created especially for the cultivation of bananas.
The only non-edible vine on the site is a wisteria, which is grown to provide shade and natural cooling in the summer and to die off in the winter in order to let in sunlight that provides natural heat.
The staff and residents at CRS recycle water that is used to hydrate multiple plants with the help of gravity.
They also drive around a solar-powered golf cart that was recycled and revitalized through a senior project the Mechanical Engineering Department took on.
“To maintain the agricultural plots that we have, our ergonomist has put together a natural insecticide composed of garlic and peppers instead of harsh chemicals,” said Cristina Halstead, co-president of The Green Team.
“This way our natural ingredients attracts good insects, such as ladybugs, that aid in the cultivation process and it keeps away the bad insects.”
Even the placement of the buildings is strategic. All the windows are directed southward to take advantage of solar radiation and thermal mass.
Aaron Locke, a third-year architecture student, said it costs the same for him to live at CRS as it would to live in the dorms or the Suites.
“For a summer harvest right now, we are growing a variety of peppers, zucchini, cucumbers,” said Alana Rivadeneyra, a first-year regenerative studies grad student.
Rivadeneyra is a staff member at CRS and tends to the agricultural plots.
Food that isn’t consumed at CRS often times is either donated to a food bank in Pomona or distributed to the public.
Be the first to comment on this article!