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Heave-Ho for Cal Poly Pomona's Pointy Obelisk Tower?

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Adios to the 17-year-old student services and administrative building at California State Polytechnic University in Pomona? The Daily Bulletin reports the building may be torn down. The California State University Board of Trustees will look into the matter on Tuesday--there's been numerous operational and mechanical issues since the structure opened, starting with water intrusion that led the school to sue the contractors.

Mike Sylvester, associate vice president of facilities for the school, voiced support for a tear-down, saying that fixing the problems of the edifice--called the CLA complex (classroom, laboratory, and administration)--would cost the same as constructing an entirely new building: $80 million. "Even after this major renovation, the CLA would remain difficult to navigate, waste internal space, be energy inefficient and subject to future mitigation issues," Michael Ortiz, the university's president, told the Daily Bulletin. Standing 173 feet tall, the futurist building appeared in numerous commercials and the Ethan Hawke flick Gattaca, and was designed by New Mexico architect Antoine Predock, who worked on everything from the Las Vegas Central Library to San Diego's Petco Park to Austin, Texas' City Hall.

Photos by Naked_Eyes, Jaynonymous, and Nardella Photo Album via Flickr

· Cal Poly Pomona May Demolish Iconic Building [Inland Valley Daily Bulletin]