CENTER FOR INTEGRATED SYSTEMS, STANFORD UNIVERSITY

Designed by Antoine Predock, completed 1996 Palo Alto, California
The Center for Integrated Systems Extension Building (CISX, 1993–96) at Stanford
University is an academic research and educational facility designed by Antoine Predock
(1936–). The design is the result not only of a highly skilled architect’s efforts but also of
50 years of successful educational initiatives and over a decade of thoughtful university
planning.
Established in 1888, Stanford University undertook a Centennial Campaign funding
drive during President Kennedy’s term (1980–92) that resulted in raising $1.26 billion, at
the time the largest amount in the history of American higher education. This success was
due in large part to the university’s close ties with regional electronics and computer
industries of Silicon Valley that sparked much of the economic growth of the last decade
of the 20th century. Coinciding with this success was the development and adoption of The Plan for t he Second
Century in 1991, prepared by Hardy, Holzman, Pfieffer and the Office of the University
Architect. This study examined the original intentions behind the Olmsted-Stanford
Beaux-Arts campus plan, a century of sporadic growth, and the desire to promote natural
landscaping. As a plan for revitalization, it presented a two-pronged approach to restore
the original character of the institution and also to ensure that all future development
would reinforce as well as extend characteristics of the original plan, a natural landscape,
and the architectural environment in a cohesive manner. The most influential directives
concerning new individual projects sought to harmonize building massing and material
choices with the dominant Richardsonian Romanesque-Mission style of red clay roof
tiles, arcades, and massive rough-faced sandstone walls of the Main Quad.
During the following term of President Casper (1992–2000), much of the plan was
implemented. A good deal of Stanford’s original infrastructure was restored or renovated,
such as the Main Quad, dating from the original collaboration of 1887–1901 between
U.S. Senator Leland Stanford, Frederick Law Olmsted, and Charles Coolidge, of
Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge. Conformance with this plan was held to, as a bold
initiative for growth was inaugurated that sought to ensure Stanford University’s place at
the forefront of academic/technological research as well as a place of significant
architectural interest. In addition to the CISX building, other notable projects have
included the William Gates Computer Sciences Building (1994–97) by Robert A.M.Stern
and Partners and the Science and Engineering Quad (1995–99) by Pei, Cobb, Freed and
Partners.
Stanford’s Educational Initiative brought about a windfall of resources and ultimately
the need for a campus revitalization strategy, all stemming from a partnership between
academia and industrial entrepreneurs concerning electronic and computing systems that
began in the early 1950s. The initiative was originally known as the Industrial Affiliates
of Stanford in Solid-State Electronics and was developed in collaboration with a graduate
program for members of the electronics industry known as the Honors Cooperative Plan.
These programs bound together the educational training, research agenda, and pragmatic
objectives of an emerging industry that contributed significantly to the development of
Encyclopedia of 20th-century architecture 428
the computer industry and Silicon Valley. The plan served as a model that ultimately led
to a comprehensive program known as the Center for Integrated Systems (1983), which
sought to coordinate scientific research and industrial development in related engineering
disciplines at Stanford University. These developments culminated in the 1983 CISX
building.
By the early 1990s, the need arose to expand the original 70,000-square-foot CISX
building by Ehrlich-Rominger, Architects. A laboratory with additional support space of
semiindustrial character was needed for a variety of experimental efforts. The location of
the existing facility on campus was west of the Main Quad and presented an early
opportunity to test the adopted revitalization plan. Because of the sensitive location and
difficult technical requirements, a decision was made to host an invitation-only design
competition. Predock’s winning entry was distinct among the four competitors for
achieving several desirable goals for coherent expansion.
Predock’s solution comprised three parts: a new courtyard, the new addition, and a
new hazardous materials/mechanical equipment area, for a total of 53,000 square feet.
Rather than butting up against the existing building, Predock designed the addition as a
discrete building that spatially defines the Main Quad, presenting a powerful logic for a
building form that affords both an east entry visible from the Main Quad and a north
entry for easy access. His plan strengthened the nodal entry to the new Science and
Engineering Quad to the south and the Biological-Chemistry science area to the north,
created a private interior courtyard for informal gatherings, and defined interior
programmatic spaces.
The design suggests a traditional sense of solidity for which the Richardsonian
Romanesque-Mission style is noted. A concrete plinth provides a visual base for the
building, similar to the Main Quad. The building is faced with Indian (Delhi) fossilized
sandstone veneer. The sense of weight is enhanced through contrast with a copper-clad
concrete-vault form that floats within the CISX main entry arcade and that proportionally
matches the Main Quad entry arches. Copper-sheet roof shingles are returned to cover the
eave soffits, which, in conjunction with a continuous nine-inch strip window at the eave,
also cause the upper roof mass to hover. Together the copper-sheathed roof and vault
heighten the contrast and sense of gravity of the stone-faced building mass. The
stonework and copper materials complement a sense of permanence in the unusual
handling of mass and space that both delights and defies conventional sensibilities
established by the original campus buildings. Overall, the design offers a 21st-century
expression of a scientific endeavor that is genuine, rich, and appropriate in the context of
the traditional architectural style of the original campus.