Project Data:

Firm Name:              SmithGroup

Completion Date:     6/9/2016

Square Footage:      44000

Building Use:           Neuroscience Research Institute

Location:                 Los Angeles, CA

Project Description:

It is the body’s most complex and least understood organ. Yet researchers are now making great strides in the study of the brain, piecing together some of the most perplexing neurological puzzles of our time. Many of those discoveries are emerging from the Mark and Mary Stevens Hall for Neuroimaging and Informatics.

Stevens Hall houses the world’s largest repository of data on the brain, some of the world’s most sophisticated MRI systems, and a powerful data processing center. Using advanced algorithms to analyze these massive data sets, interdisciplinary teams of neurobiologists, computer scientists, physicists and mathematicians can create three-dimensional brain maps, relating information in a way that was unimaginable just a few short years ago.
Remarkably, it all happens in a building shell that predates even the most rudimentary MRI machine. Stevens Hall transformed a 1950s structure slated for demolition into one of the world’s great centers of neuroscience research. It is a facility wholly optimized for the advanced science that happens within.

As one approaches the Hall, a floating rectilinear mass of windows celebrates the burgeoning science on display. Rather than wet labs and benches, the research laboratories are specifically equipped with tools to create, analyze and map models of the brain. In every crevice, research is evident in the design. To give credence to the visualization needs of the enormous computing power and large data processing, the ground data center was made visible beyond a wall of class, and the Data Immersive Visualization Environment (DIVE) was framed by a transparent cube—all allowing the Institute to visually, eagerly share its cutting-edge work with all those who come into the space.

To pay homage to the community responsible for USC’s health sciences success, renovation became the University’s desired action. Rather than building anew, Dr. Toga suggested a monetary tactic in order to save on the structure, spend on the tools and resources required to continue USC’s long-standing tradition as a trailblazer in the neuroscience, clinical and technological realms. Previously vacant for nearly a decade after the completion of USC 79-acre Health Sciences campus, the Mark and Mary Stevens building revitalized a corner of campus, enhancing the University’s ability to attract top research and staff.

C.O.T.E. | Committee on the Environment

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