Designed to LEED Gold performance – not certified 

As the third building on Stanford’s new Science and Engineering Quad, the 100,000-square-foot Spilker Engineering and Applied Sciences Building is a multidisciplinary research and teaching center.  The building houses the Edward L. Ginzton independent laboratory as well as offices and research facilities for the Department of Applied Physics.  These shared facilities, including a powerful Titan microscope, feature some of the most advanced nanoscale observation, patterning and characterization equipment available today.

The building supports three user groups: Photon and Quantum Science and Engineering; Nano Science and Engineering; and Biological Science and Engineering.  These groups have established a convergence of research and equipment needs that require state of the art facilities. The labs in the building include:

• A crystal shop
• A nano patterning laboratory
• A flexible clean room for micro-fabrication
• An optical materials characterization lab

The Spilker Building also provides critical low vibration space (VCE and VCD), including a sub-basement for leading edge nanotechnology research labs.  Applications of that research range from new drugs and novel semiconductors to improved communications networks and water purification systems.

The Spilker Building also aims to define a new standard for the performance and livability of lab buildings on campus making extensive use of daylighting and natural ventilation in the non-lab areas through a large central atrium.  The building reduces energy consumption 30% below California Title-24.

Connected through basement-level research and lab areas to the adjacent Huang Engineering Center and the fourth building on the quad, the Shriram Bioengineering and Chemical Engineering Center, the Spilker Building will foster direct collaboration between nano research and related disciplines including biological sciences and engineering, materials and applied sciences, and applied physics.  As research within the building is also generating foundational insights for healthcare, its proximity to the medical campus makes it an important link between SEQ and Stanford School of Medicine.

Isaac Campbell, AIA, was the Project Designer for the Spilker Engineering and Applied Sciences Building while a Principal at Bora Architects.