The building's very architecture invites interaction. From the three stories of research laboratories on its north side, occupants can look through large picture windows across a skylit atrium at the people in the five stories of faculty offices on the south side. The separation of the laboratories from the offices is deliberate: it encourages scientists and engineers to walk back and forth several times a day, maximizing chance encounters with colleagues.

Each of the 11 pedestrian bridges uniting the two sides has a scattering of coffee tables, chairs, and whiteboards, to promote impromptu discussions and brainstorming. The wide vistas of the block-long vaulted atrium set ideas soaring while swallowing sound, granting privacy to each of the many conversations it shelters. Intimate lounges tucked in odd nooks complement larger seminar rooms, conference rooms, and the 200-seat auditorium. The building's subliminal message is: meet, talk, share.

Beckman Facilities Tour

The skylit atrium of the multidisciplinary Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign [left] allows scientists and engineers in the biological, chemical, engineering, and computer laboratories and in the faculty offices to view each other. Pedestrian bridges joining the labs and offices provide spaces for researchers to meet informally. The conference tower [above] holds four floors of rooms for more formal meetings.

The 11 pedestrian bridges that join the laboratories and offices are equipped with whiteboards, coffee tables, and chairs, making it easy for Beckman Institute investigators to gather colleagues for impromptu brain-storming sessions. In fact, at the institute, "Let's grab a bridge" has become a synonym for "Let's talk about it."

Most Beckman Institute projects are pursued by teams of two to a dozen investigators. Engineers can design and build completely new equipment while scientists often find that investigators in completely different fields have been working on similar problems but with different approaches.

Photos: Beckman Institute

A secluded garden with a contemporary sculpture at the side of the Beckman Institute building allows discussions to take place in a relaxed outdoor setting.

The winner of several architectural awards, the unusual structure is the home of the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, located on the campus of the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. The architectural message is central to its raison d'etre: support for a multidisciplinary exploration of complex problems at the juncture of biology, cognitive science, and electrical engineering.

"The institute's premise is that these days, problems in science and technology can be better addressed by an approach that transcends disciplinary boundaries," explained Jiri Jonas, who has been the institute's director since 1993. Researchers in one field often discover that workers in another have been attacking the same kinds of problems, but with the different vocabulary of a different background.

Communication and cross-fertilization among disciplines is formalized in weekly lunch seminars. Every Wednesday, a Beckman researcher gives a talk on work in progress and solicits ideas from the diverse audience.

"In coming here [to the Beckman Institute]," said William T. Greenough, professor of psychology, a member of the neuronal pattern analysis group, and one of the institute's first planners, "we made the decision that we would concentrate on things together and help each other."

In The Beginning

The Beckman Institute was conceived in 1983, when two groups of campus administrators and professors were asked by Theodore L. Brown, then vice chancellor for research, to come up with a plan to facilitate research on the Illinois campus. Nominally, one committee—chaired by Greenough, psychology professor and then chair of the neuroscience program—was to have been composed of biologists, cognitive scientists, and life scientists; the other—chaired by electrical and computer engineering professor Karl Hess—was to have been composed of engineers and physicists.