University Unveils Plans for New Gates Center for Computer Science

By: Bruce Gerson

You could call it a "Tale of Two Buildings."

Initial designs for the new Gates Center for Computer Science were introduced to the university community in April, revealing not one but two contemporary structures that will make up the new home for the School of Computer Science.

Mack Scogin, principal of the Atlanta-based Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects Inc., gave a preview of plans for the new center during a School of Architecture-sponsored lecture at the Carnegie Museum Lecture Hall and at two information sessions for the campus community.

The new structures will sit on a 5.6-acre site on the university's West Campus, surrounded by Cyert Hall, the Purnell Center for the Arts, Doherty Hall, Newell-Simon Hall, Smith and Hamburg halls and the Collaborative Innovation Center. University officials will seek silver LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council for the new facility.

The buildings will be organized around an outdoor winter garden and connected by a four-story lobby containing pedestrian walkways between the upper floors. Their 209,000 square feet will contain 318 offices as well as labs, computer clusters, lecture halls, classrooms and a 250-seat auditorium. Fifty percent of the center will be devoted to office space, with labs (18 percent), common areas (15 percent), classrooms (13 percent) and planetary robotics (4 percent) making up the other half.

The smaller of the two buildings, about 50,000 square feet, will be dedicated to research. This four-story structure, shaped like a trapezoid, will face Forbes Avenue between Cyert and Hamburg halls. A glass-enclosed entry lobby with pedestrian bridges will connect to the larger multi-faceted, six-story companion building.

Other design features and amenities include several common or "collaborative" areas; a building form that takes advantage of the variety of views to and from the site; the generous use of glass to bring natural light to all of the individual offices and collective spaces; "green roofs" to abate storm water runoff; efficient building systems and controls; sustainable materials; a central ADA accessible rampway through the building connecting the Cut to the West Campus; and an underground parking garage for 150 vehicles.

Pedestrian pathways, benches, trees, shrubbery and the landscaping design of Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates will help to create a West Campus Quadrangle. Van Valkenburgh developed the landscape design for the Kraus Campo atop the Posner Center near the Tepper School of Business.

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