1. s ta n f o r d n a n ot ech n o lo g y ce n t e r
At a glance
The diagram indicates where storytelling is experienced at Nano.
Stained Glass Skylight
Art in Atria
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 Main ground level entry
great – if they are truly to become breakthroughs.
This building is founded on breakthroughs. View into Shared Patterning Lab
And one truth about breakthroughs is this:
an intellectual critical mass must be achieved.
This is a place where ideas cross paths. Introduction, Timeline and
Current research displays
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.
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2. s ta n f o r d n a n ot ech n o lo g y ce n t e r
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.
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3. s ta n f o r d n a n ot ech n o lo g y ce n t e r
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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4. s ta n f o r d n a n ot ech n o lo g y ce n t e r
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.
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5. s ta n f o r d n a n ot ech n o lo g y ce n t e r
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.
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6. s ta n f o r d n a n ot ech n o lo g y ce n t e r
Interactive Collaboration Map
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7. s ta n f o r d n a n ot ech n o lo g y ce n t e r
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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8. s ta n f o r d n a n ot ech n o lo g y ce n t e r
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.
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9. s ta n f o r d n a n ot ech n o lo g y ce n t e r
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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10. s ta n f o r d n a n ot ech n o lo g y ce n t e r
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.
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