New computer-science building nears completion

Faculty and students in the UW's computer science (CS) program eagerly anticipate the Paul G. Allen Center for Computer Science and Engineering's grand opening, slated to open on time at the beginning of fall quarter 2003. Last week, workers put the final touches on the glass roof above the building's atrium, marking the final phase of the construction project.

All that remains unfinished, contractors say, are the finishing touches.

The last piece of the building's steel frame was placed last October, a year after its construction began in October 2001. The building is planned to be "substantially complete" by July, and it will be ready for use starting in early September. CS instructors are confident that enough rooms within the building will be usable as to allow classes to be held there. The new center's opening will allow the CS department to move out of its former home, the much-maligned Sieg Hall.

"We've focused very heavily on 'people space,'" said Ed Lazowska, the Bill and Melinda Gates chair of the CS department. "Despite being a tech program, we realized that we're really in the people business, providing people a place to brainstorm. We consciously designed lots of places where people could bump into each other, sit down and talk."

Along with the emphasis on interpersonal communications, Lazowska explained that the new building's design incorporates ample space for laboratories.

"In general, CS has become more laboratory-intensive in the last 10 to 20 years," he said. "We have students interested in 3-D motion capture where you have people move around with sensors covering their bodies and then use that data to map the motion of polygonal actors in 3-D environments. We also have students doing robotics experiments, like programming teams of Sony Aibo dogs to play soccer. In Sieg, we only have one room big enough to be used like that, and it also doubles as a meeting hall and a display room for the distance-learning program."

Aesthetics also played a significant role in the new building's design.

"One good thing about Sieg is that because of its narrow shape, all the classrooms get a lot of light from outside," Lazowska said. "Every seat is a window seat, so to speak, and it promotes a free state of mind in the people who occupy that space. One of our objectives in designing the new building was to maximize window space, so every room in the building has windows on either the outside of the building or the inner atrium."

While the CS department is happy to leave its former headquarters in Sieg Hall behind, Lazowska said the building would continue to be used.

"We've worked out a deal with the electrical engineering department where they'll take three of Sieg's floors and we'll keep one," he said. "A lot of people don't like Sieg, but we have poured lots of money into equipment and lab spaces in that building, so there's still plenty we can do there, and it's a good place for faculty offices."

One notable aspect of the project that Lazowska mentioned was the unprecedented level of cooperation between the CS department, the University community and the contractor.

"It's been as glitch-free as these things ever go," he said. "This contractor was specifically interested in doing a university project, and he came to Seattle just so he could do this building. And I can't say enough about the generosity of the Puget Sound technical community. Every nickel of the money has come from this region."