foo SCS Complex Information and Blog

We moved into the Centers during the second and third weeks of August and started classes there on the fourth week. The move involved over 500 people and computers and was carefully choreographed by Jim Skees to fill parts of the building as they became finished enough to move into. Not everything was done when we moved in and there were some inconveniences due to the “early” move, but overall it was certainly worth being in the building before classes started. I’m delighted with the way it turned out, but I’m biased. We now look forward to the official opening on September 22nd.

The Gates and Hillman Centers will have 12 conference rooms, 11 classrooms, a 250 seat auditorium, and various other shared spaces. Here is a brief guide of what will be available to the SCS community.

Pittsburgh is the city of Bridges with 446 of them, apparently more than Venice. This is historically due to the terrain and many rivers. The bridges have always been both practical but also symbolic of the city. Although we do not have a river through our campus, our terrain is no exception.

The Gates Hillman Centers have six bridges (not counted in the 446), all pedestrian. These Bridges serve both as practical access but also important symbolic connections among units. Here I briefly describe each one.

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• 4% of graduate students want to be within an office or two of their advisor and 60% don’t want to be on the same floor
• 55% of people think the bridge to Wean is the most important feature of NSH
• 84% of people would like a cafe with light food in Gates Hillman
• 91% of people believe having individual temperature controls is important
• 84% believe that having a large window is important
• Our favorite conference rooms: NSH 3305 and Wean 7220/8220.

These are just some of the results from a survey that we did 3 1/2 years ago. Many of the decisions about the building design were influenced by this survey.

In case you have your opinions on when the buildings will be done you can bet on it, although not with real money. Abe Othman has set up a Prediction Market for betting on when it will be completed, where completion will be measured based on the date we receive a “temporary occupancy permit”. Note that the official date is sometime in July 2009.

We celebrated the raising of the final beam after allowing campus to sign it—it was left out by Cyert hall for two days with a supply of markers. There seem to be several hundred signatures on the beam, although who counted?

President Jared Cohon, Dean Randy Bryant, and the architect Mack Scogin spoke at the ceremony.

More information can be found here.

With the sad passing away of Randy Pausch we are honored to be working on the Randy Pausch Memorial Footbridge. The concrete structure of the bridge is almost complete (see pictures) and the design of the handrail and finishes are underway. The design will incorporate symbolic homages to Randy and his teaching.

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The steel structure started going up in the beginning of May and is scheduled to be done by the end of Summer. Students returning in the fall will be surprised to see an almost complete structure, although with no walls.

For logistical reasons the first steel to go up is suspended 45 feet up in the air in a tree-house like structure built on top of concrete columns. It is complete with a ladder to get up to the hamlet.

What is on level 2 of the Hillman Center? What part of the building has been referred to as the nose? There is a bridge in the landscaping not attached to a building, where is it?

These questions are all part of the Gates Hillman Test which was given out to faculty of the Computer Science Department during their retreat. Please feel free to take it. You might find the building plans (8Mg) useful. If you think you got all the answers, send them to Guy Blelloch.

During Bill Gates’ visit in February, the Henry L. Hillman Foundation announced a gift of $10 Million for the second of the two structures comprising the SCS Complex. The building will be named the Hillman Center for Future Generation Technologies. We are grateful for the generous gift. More information can be found on the Carnegie Mellon’s News Page. In the picture (l to r): Henry L. Hillman, Bill Gates, Elsie Hillman and Jared Cohon.