Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics was designed by Morphosis Architects. Since the construction of the Palomar Observatory in 1948, the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has continuously pioneered new ways of observing and explaining the heavens. Caltech scientists and engineers have deployed ever-changing telescopes on satellites, rockets, and balloons, and with these have made fundamental discoveries leading to new theoretical models. Paramount discoveries that have come out of Caltech include the cosmological nature of distant quasars, gamma-ray bursts, and brown dwarfs. In 2007 alone, Caltech astronomers found the largest object orbiting the sun since the discovery of Pluto in 1930, as well as the most distant galaxy in the universe. Yet, over the decades, the various specialists dispersed across the Caltech campus. The Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics brings together a dozen different groups with vastly different cultures, focuses, and scopes into a single structure designed to facilitate collaboration and spontaneous discourse.

Located on Caltech’s South Campus directly across California Boulevard from the Institution’s historic North Campus core, the Cahill Center physically and symbolically connects the two campuses. The new building’s scale, orientation, horizontal massing, and material language connect with the original complex of Spanish and Mediterranean buildings across California Boulevard (a significant part of the campus’s historic core as envisioned by Bertram Goodhue’s 1917 master plan). On the south side of the building, the athletic fields appear to extend all the way to the building’s edge. A grove of newly planted sycamore trees, part of the overall landscape strategy, create a natural but permeable boundary. The new building extends a primary north-south axis across California Boulevard, stitching the two campuses together. A series of north-south interior corridors-literally, “stitches”-reinforce this connection and serve to orient circulation. Floor to ceiling glazing terminates the stitches: the southern façade’s glazing overlooks Caltech’s large, open athletic fields, while the northern façade’s glazing offers views back to the historic core and to the San Gabriel Mountain Range beyond.

Architecture: Morphosis Architects
Location: Pasadena, California, USA
Project Manager: Kim Groves
Job Captain: Salvador Hidalgo
Project Architect: David Rindlaub
Project Designers: Martin Summers, Shanna Yates
Project Team: Irena Bedenikovic, Pavel Getov, Debbie Lin, Kristina Loock, David Rindlaub
Project Assistants: Patrick Dunn-Baker with Adam Bressler, Laura Foxman, Brock Hinze, Amy Kwok, Hugo Martinez, Mark McPhie, Barbra Moss, Greg Neudorf, Mike Patterson, Aleksander Tamm-Seitz , Rychiee Espinosa, Jennifer Kasick, Kyle Coburn, Christin To, Sunnie Lau
Constructed Area: 9,290 sqm
Project Year: 2009
Texts: Morphosis
Photographs: Michael Powers

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 28th, 2009 at 10:27 am and is filed under Architecture Design. Tags: Architecture Design, art, Cahill Center, Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, California, California Institute of Technology, Caltech campus, Caltech's South Campus, design, Educational, Mediterranean, Morphosis Architects, North Campus, Palomar Observatory, San Gabriel Mountain Range, Selected, Uncategorized, USA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.