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stanford nanotechnology center

At a glance The diagram indicates where storytelling is experienced at Nano.

Stained Glass Skylight

Art in Atria

Introduction, Timeline and Current research displays

Main ground level entry

View into Shared Patterning Lab

Innovation demands non-stop, intersecting new ideas. This was true when Ginzton was developing the klystron, and it’s true now. New ideas need the company of other new ideas if they are to become great – if they are truly to become breakthroughs. This building is founded on breakthroughs. And one truth about breakthroughs is this: an intellectual critical mass must be achieved.This is a place where ideas cross paths. Ideas are funny things – you never know when they’re going to appear. All you can do is create a space where they can mingle. That way, when they do appear, they’re in good company.

4.20.09

stanford nanotechnology center

Introduction to the Nano building Initially one experiences a graphic expression of collaboration along with a brief statement describing the importance of proximity and spontaneous interaction to innovation.

4.20.09

stanford nanotechnology center

A history of collaborative research The historic time line reflects stylistically that of the Building as History Book at SoEC. History is reflected in fixed but changeable exhibits.

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stanford nanotechnology center

Current research on display As you approach Nano from SoEC, current research is dynamically presented in nearly self-maintaining CMS platform and projected on to the wall.

4.20.09

stanford nanotechnology center

Exploring project-based research As you enter Nano proper, visitors can experience real-time multidisciplinary, project based curriculum that defines Stanford’s culture in an HTML based platform. This same platform feeds the displays in the passageway, and can be viewed online at any time.

stanford nanotechnology center

Interactive Collaboration Map

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4.20.09

stanford nanotechnology center

Who’s here and what’s happening now? Researchers have likened the shared lab to a kitchen with lots of cooks working on different recipes at the same time – intriguing and inspiring each other as they work in such close proximity. This is underscored for visitors by an informal sign-in on the glass next to the door. There are two live images projected on to the glass. Visitors can see what is being observed in real time.

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stanford nanotechnology center

Stain Glass Skylight Stained glass windows appeared in the 10th and 11th centuries. The use of nanoscale impurities affected the color of the glass. Just as gold nanosphere suspensions provide color indicators for a variety of purposes, medieval stained-glass relied on the same size-dependent light scattering properties of metal nanoparticles. As an homage to one of the first uses of nanotechnol-ogy, we are proposing a stained or colored glass skylight.

4.20.09

stanford nanotechnology center

Experience Art Input from several interviews suggests the inclusion of art rather than simply technology. This will add depth to the nature of research Nano by expressions engaging the beauty of exploration and observation.

Commissioned as the central focus at the heart of the public entrance to the museum, this photo mural is one of the largest and most significant projects Gerhard Richter has ever accomplished. its image of strontium titanate molecules, originally produced by an electron microscope, is derived from a newspaper photograph. The blur records the halo created by the pulsating move-ment of atomic particles and the charge of their ener-gized mass. The work explores these structures which are invisible to the naked eye and their relationship to the basic elements of artistic design, reflected here in the grid pattern and its optical effects.

Strontium continues the artist’s lifelong interest in the aesthetics of astonishment, and in how pictorial conver-sions interpret as well as represent reality. It returns to the vocabulary of his early works from the 1960s, princi-pally black-and-white images found in op art paintings, which challenge perception. However, this earlier lan-guage is transformed through the reflective properties of mirrored surfaces and abstracted objects that charac-terize his monumental conceptual works. Because there is no place where the image finally seems to resolve, viewers experience this artwork as psychological and visual dilemma no matter where they stand in relation to it, allowing for an endless projection of meanings onto its minimalist, yet mysterious surface.

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stanford nanotechnology center

Coffee and Donuts Interviews often referred to the importance of informal kitchens and their contribution to spontaneous interaction. This bronzed sculpture is an appropriately irreverent yet valuable reminder if what makes Stanford Stanford. And, how that understanding contributed to the design of the building.