public conference center entrance

west side with chalk talk balconies

work spaces and laboratories

researcher entrance

view from campus

july 2009

researcher entrance

focused work areas

west side entrance

library reading room

october 2008

west lab at 7th level

view from campus entrance

august 2008

labs and library before computing room built

Transformers being installed to power Argonne's new Supercomputer at the Theory and Computing Sciences Building.

People interact in strange ways… All powerful. The curious thing is how much power resides in the Other. Sure that was God for a time. But even without a supreme being, people still knowingly or unknowingly attribute events to some more powerful Other.

I saw The Class, a movie directed by Laurence Cantet, and written by François Bégaudeau. and then read a review in The London Review of Books by Michael Wood.

The teacher Mr.Marin, unknowingly attributes Power to discipline and structure of the French language, as well as the hierarchical relationship between teachers and students. Unfortunately the review missed some essential details to the movie: the traumatic incident was not initiated by Mr Marin’s comment that 13 year old Esmeralda and her female classmate were acting like “skanks,” but that previously, Mr Marin referred to another classmate, Souleymane as intellectually limited in front of these two students. Since Esmeralda and her friend were surprised by Mr Marin’s display of hierarchical superiority the comment naturally, in junior high school gossip, made it back to Souleymane.

The saddest part of the movie is the very end, of the movie and the semester, when another “quiet background” classmate, truly and honestly, admits that she hasn’t learned anything all year.

Theory and Computing Sciences Building during construction

Visiting the construction site today… it is revealing to hear people discuss the drastically different sides of the building: massive, floating, concrete panels on one side; and, darkly thin metal skin on the other.

Zizek’s book The Parallax View, repeatedly, examines to the fullest both sides of an arguement. And then exposes the impossibility of a resolution: sometimes viewpoints simply can not be reconciled. They are simply opposites, and further understanding will not come through compromise.

Getting along (or simultaeously holding both viewpoints) can only emerge through reconceptualizing the situation such that opposite viewpoints can be exchanged for a more broadly held, singular, new viewpoint that is all encompassing. Likely, of course, a traumatic event may occur, assisting, finding or demanding that previously held beliefs are not valid in such a situation.

And new viewpoints that enrich our world are born. Or in the case of this building, the two drastically different sides seem perfectly natural to people using the spaces.

Animate awarded Theory and Computing Sciences Building commission at Argonne

Animate has been selected as the Design Architect for the new Theory and Computing Sciences Building. The building will be occupied by Argonne National Laboratory and the project was awarded by TCSB Trust. This $57.5 million building, with 230,000sf will house one of the world fastest supercomputers. Powering this new endeavor will be 750 people, including many of the world’s top scientists, working in a richly dynamic research environment. In addition to great work places the new facility will include:

• 18,000sf advanced library
• A 7,000sf digital conference center
• 10,000sf of advanced digital laboratory spaces
• office support areas including meeting spaces, conference rooms and outdoor spaces
• supercomputing space of 25,000sf

As simulations of natural phenomena become more prevalent across the scientific agenda, this new facility will also become the center piece of the new Argonne infrastructure upgrade program.  

Context for design –

Animate’s design emerged by exploring various methods of integrating focused work spaces, with dynamic, changeable spaces that enable creative interactions between researchers with differing expertise. A coordinated arrangement of these spaces ensures that people are not distracted from their work nor isolated from the resources required to achieve their goals.   The careful integration of these human-centered requirements into the campus site has yielded a plan that varies with nature’s rhythms and incorporates changing sunlight, fresh air and the area’s specific topography.

The design of the offices and workstations is developed around researchers’ needs to alter their space on a frequent basis. Rather than utilize an office system that is universally flexible but requires technicians for reconfiguration, Animate created a series of components that have limited flexibility. This enables the researchers to quickly adapt work spaces to their unique and sometimes unusual requirements.

Design Technology Ahead of its Time – 

Animate’s innovative design strategies combined with Argonne’s advanced technology create an environment that is both functional and inspiring.  This harmony of work and play is achieved by creating spaces where human communication and collaboration is key. There will be 20-30 collaboration studios dispersed throughout the building.  Studios in various formats all share the technological resources of the Supercomputing Support Facility: 25,000sf space housing massively parallel computers.  A number of these include virtual reality studios, others have multi-node digital conferences and data sharing/processing, but all incorporate highly advanced technologies developed by Argonne.  Animate’s design also supports both the creative behaviors of the researchers that work there and allows for a free flow of technology and ideas. Seven major groups comprised of over 600 researchers inhabit the building, and they are able to communicate freely with each other as well as other researchers around the globe. The client’s goals for the project are making the technology transparent and bringing communication to the foreground, regardless of one’s physical location.  By humanizing technology in a way that creates focused sanctuaries, as well as spontaneous interactive activity hubs, employees can be more productive and more collaborative. It is this artful fusion of design and technology that puts the building ahead of the curve.

Architects-focused approach –

More than an office, Animate’s principle practice is a place for exploration. assisting human productivity and creating delight in a variety of building types. Located in Chicago and providing the full range of architectural services, Animate first and foremost is concerned with the knowledge their clients bring to a project. Initial inspiration emerges through understanding the clients’ spatial challenges relative to their internal culture and the external environment. Composed with Animate’s diverse scholarship, skills and personal experience, solutions are found that challenge clients to discover new lifestyles yet to be lived. “By being alert – deeply aware of the client’s predicament – we find meaningful ways to build.” says Joe Lambke.

The Animate approach has produced elegant solutions for clients large and small. 

All are the products of:

• a sensitivity to nature and human life
• a rigorous thought process that clarifies, simplifies, and invents
• a deep and genuine concern for long-term client and user satisfaction.

Design for the future – 

Designed around human productivity, these new work environments have garnered increased appeal for larger organizations. The composition of spaces embraces the non-linear patterns of human work flow. A carefully-attuned mixture of places that support intellectually-focused work, with collaborative spaces where ideas flow freely, generates a richer and more enjoyable environment for accomplishing great things.

More than green, these new spaces work with nature to provide cost-effective buildings and spatial qualities that ground people in nature’s hourly, daily, and seasonal rhythms. 

Animate’s role –

For the Theory and Computing Sciences Building at Argonne National Laboratory, Animate is the Design Architect responsible for the concept and design development for the building, interiors, and landscaping. Animate teamed with a local firm, who provided Architect of Record, Engineering and Construction services.

classroom

In a surprisingly fun turn of events, at a certain point in time, it was necessary to quickly communicate the possible ways people might use the new building.  In a short (or long) weekend, a number of these sketches were prepared to provide visual hint, of the possibilities…

conference room

living in the building

collaborating in the laboratories

checking in with the team

working in an office

"big iron" processing all this research