Making the connections
UW officials look to Stanford’s collaborative research center for inspiration
By SUSANNE RUST
srust@journalsentinel.com
Posted: June 4, 2006
Stanford, Calif. - Traditional science has flourished for centuries in traditional university buildings, where walls and doors separate the spaces - and the scientists who inhabit them - into offices and labs, departments and disciplines.
In the last decade, however, researchers have begun investigating questions that demand a more collaborative, open environment. Creating that environment is the goal of the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery, a planned $150 million research facility at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
That goal is a reality at the James H. Clark Center, the $150 million research hub at Stanford University, which is serving as an inspiration and model for the UW project.
Located at the nexus of the medical, engineering and science complexes, the Clark Center serves as a mixing bowl of sorts: bringing together researchers from diverse fields to tackle problems in new and unexpected ways.
With curved exterior walls that flow into its central atrium like a funnel, the building was designed to physically promote and spark collaborations among the different scientific schools and departments on the campus. Adding a Peet's Coffee & Tea - a Berkeley-based coffeehouse - and a restaurant/cafeteria run by a four-star Taiwanese chef has made the center a magnet for students and faculty across campus.
The results have been enormous.
