Argonne's new center really computes
National lab gets lots more elbow room for scientists
In many ways, Argonne National Laboratory's new Theory and Computing Sciences building might remind you of your own office building: a first-floor coffee bar, neat rows of cubicles, conference rooms scattered throughout the floors.
But the gaggle of lightning-fast computer processors and adjoining football field-sized cooling room are a quick reminder of the mind-bending work poised to happen here.
(Art Vassy/SouthtownStar)
PHOTO GALLERY
Argonne Computer Center
BEHIND THE FINANCING
Some creative financial footwork helped to get the Theory and Computing Sciences building off the ground. Although Argonne sorely needed more space, the dollars to pay for a new building simply weren't there, according to project lead Mary Spada.
"We recognize sometimes the private sector can get things done more quickly and for less money," she said.
That's why in 2007, a private trust was created to pay for the building's construction. The Theory and Computing Sciences Building Trust was backed by private investors and named University of Chicago, Argonne's academic partner, as its sole beneficiary, Spada said.
The Department of Energy, which operates Argonne's grounds, leased the land for the building to the trust until 2044, according to a December 2008 trust audit. The trust then borrowed $61 million in bonds from the Illinois Finance Authority to pay for the project, the audit said.
Once Argonne employees move into the building in September, Argonne will rent the building from the trust for 18 years, the audit said. Argonne will pay the trust $416,700 in monthly rent plus management and maintenance fees, and also has put $5.39 million toward construction improvements.
BY THE NUMBERS
Theory and Computing Sciences Building
Size: 200,000 square feet
Opens: Sept. 11
Divisions: Mathematics and Computer Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Computing and Information Systems, Argonne Leadership Computing Facility, Computation Institute, Atmosphere Measurement Radiation Facility
Key features: 25,000-square-foot supercomputer room, 18,000-square-foot library, three computational labs, 30 conference rooms, 750 offices, conference center open to the public
FUN FACTS
Having trouble wrapping your brain around Argonne's high-tech equipment?
Here are some easy ways to break it down:
It would take a stack of laptops a mile-and-a-half high to equal the computing power of Argonne's current supercomputer, Blue Gene. The supercomputer planned for the Theory and Computing Sciences building will be 20 times more powerful than Blue Gene.
The amount of fiber optic cable used to transmit data through Blue Gene would stretch from Argonne to Soldier Field in Chicago.
The library in the new Theory and Computing Sciences building has three miles of shelving.
The new supercomputer Argonne wants to acquire has 10 petaflops of computing power. That means it can make 10 quadrillion (that's 10 with fifteen 0s) calculations per second.
More than 600 Argonne employees from six different divisions will move into the seven-story, 200,000-square-foot building in two weeks as the laboratory looks to consolidate its computing-based disciplines under one roof. Until now, scientists from those fields had been housed throughout the massive campus, often in cramped quarters.
With computer-based research rapidly growing at the laboratory, which is located near Lemont and owned by the Department of Energy, the need for new digs was clear, according to Michael Papka.
"There are people literally on top of each other," said Papka, Argonne's deputy associate laboratory director for computing, environmental and life sciences. "We were desperate for space."
In an unusual move, Argonne turned to outside sources to finance the project. A private trust set up in 2007 paid for the building's construction, and Argonne is leasing the building back from the trust, an arrangement that saves Argonne money, according to project lead Mary Spada.
"It's a win-win," she said. "We gave the builders a wish list bigger than any Christmas list you could imagine and got what we wanted."
That list included enough space for a massive supercomputer, the eventual jewel of the building. Argonne originally considered relocating Blue Gene, its current model, but now plans to hold out for the next generation, which is in the prototype stage.
The machine will take up much of a 25,000-square-foot, white-tiled room, kept cool through an elaborate system of chilled water tubes next door. At 10 petaflops, or 10 quadrillion calculations per second, the supercomputer's eye-popping speed means even more powerful tools for scientists from Argonne and across the world, who have used Blue Gene to search for a cure for Parkinson's disease, develop MRSA-fighting drugs and find ways to reduce jet engine noise.
The hulking space for a supercomputer is a welcome change for Papka, who said space in his old building for computers topped out at 4,000 square feet.
"We had to keep the doors open to keep the computers cool," he said. "This really opens the door on our potential to make proposals for bigger machines."
Also getting some much-needed elbow room is Argonne's library,
which will morph from 11 small satellite collections around the campus to a wide-open, two-story space.
"Our scientists doing multi-disciplinary research don't have to run to chemistry and then physics," library manager Yvette Woell said.
One of the more intriguing parts of the collection? A series of technical reports from the Atomic Energy Commission dating back to 1946. The library's scene-stealer, however, is the 40-by-40-foot translucent psychedelic swirl of geometric shapes in pinks, blues and greens that covers the room's south window. Papka and colleague Mark Hereld designed the pattern using - what else?- a computer, transforming codes into art for the room.
"We wanted a stained-glass effect, but by using something more scientific," Papka said.
A conference center that is open to the public, a laboratory and office space round out the building, which wraps in a circle around a large atrium filled with plants and trees. Break nooks throughout the floors and balconies equipped with chalk and slate board for off-the-cuff computations are meant to inspire collaboration, Spada said.
"We don't want them to be inhibited by closed doors," she said.
With the move looming, Papka said a mixture of nervousness and excitement is building around campus.
"There's always an apprehension about the unknown," he said. "But everyone who's been here, the reaction has been, 'Wow.' "