• Current Master Plan
• Master Plan in Progress

More than a decade has passed since Occidental took a comprehensive look at how future campus development should support our educational goals and benefit our neighborhood and the broader community. Currently, major projects can only be approved by the city on a piecemeal basis, which obviously doesn’t encourage thoughtful long-range planning.

This is why we intend to create a new master plan for Occidental – one that relies on input from on and off campus. Our aim is to create a 10-year plan addressing both the built and natural environment that we can then take to the city for approval – a plan that advances the long-term goals of the community and the college.

To help us with this process, we have engaged the internationally respected firm of Moule and Polyzoides. This Pasadena firm is familiar with the distinctive architecture of our park-like campus and is one of the nation’s leading authorities on sustainable development, an important principle for our planning. By design, our effort will move forward at the same time Eagle Rock residents have begun conversations about long-range planning for the community as a whole. It is our hope that each plan will inform and support the other.

We are not contemplating major changes in the scale or focus of the college. In particular, we do not seek to increase the size of our student body. We remain committed to our identity as a small, residential liberal arts college. In fact, in a project separate from the master plan, we plan to seek planning approval from the city to build a new residence hall and parking structure that will bring more of our students and their cars out of the neighborhood and onto campus.

We began the process this spring by making presentations to neighborhood councils and other local groups – part of a months-long series of campus and community meetings to solicit input and feedback. In addition, Occidental faculty and staff were surveyed by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Moule and Polyzoides is scheduled to present a draft master plan this fall, which will be the focus of a second series of meetings prior to its presentation to the Occidental Board of Trustees in December. After it is approved by the trustees, it will be filed with the city of Los Angeles to go through the formal planning approval process.

The New Master Plan for Occidental College: basic facts [memo]

The aim of the Master Plan is to create a 10-year plan addressing both the built and natural environment the will advance the long-term goals of the community and the college. The Master Plan is based on sustainable practices being implemented comprehensively throughout the campus. The plan was developed by the architect and urbanist firm Moule & Polyzoides with input from campus stakeholders. If approved by the Board of Trustees, the Master Plan will act as a roadmap and policy reference for future development of the college.

The Master Plan will likely include the following key elements:

• Historic Preservation

• Maintain the historic status of the campus and preserve its architecturally significant buildings.

• Landscape

• Provide new spaces for social interaction, replace some roads and parking with paths and gardens, improve water conservation and filtration, and feature more native plant species

•  Buildings

•  Build new structures and rehabilitate existing buildings using sustainable designs and materials drawn from the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards.

•  Transportation

•  Establish a car free zone in the center of campus, improve walking paths and bicycling amenities; promote transit use and carpooling.