Gates Computer Science Building

Gates Computer Science BuildingThe Gates Computer Science Building was completed in January 1996 and is the home of the Computer Science Department (CSD) and the Computer Systems Laboratory (CSL). The 150,000 square foot building houses 550 faculty, staff and students and cost $38M to build and furnish. Robert A. M. Stern Associates of New York and Fong and Chan of San Francisco were the architects, selected following an invited national competition. Rudolph & Sletten of Foster City was the general contractor. There were 47 subcontractors working over a 16-month period.


The Gates building is named for Bill Gates, co-founder and CEO of Microsoft Corp., who gave a $6M gift to the project. The rest of the funding was donated by individuals and corporations and the Stanford School of Engineering Venture Capital Fund.

The Gates Building was designed to promote interaction. Previously, CSD and CSL were located in 11 different buildings, both on campus and off. Now scientists can exchange ideas with colleagues by walking just a few steps.

The Gates Building offers two new state-of-the-art classrooms which are equipped with computer presGates Building room B01entation tools and equipment, large screen projectors and accommodation for multiple computer platforms. In addition, there are two public computer labs in the building, which house the 'myth' Linux workstations, in B21 and B08.

A coalition of Stanford computer scientists and the Computer History Museum has installed exhibits within the Gates Computer Science building containing historical equipment and documents focusing on Stanford's role in the history of computing. The exhibits are being changed and updated as time permits. The first exhibit, installed November 1997, focuses on the early history of the Stanford Computer Science Department. and its founder, George Forsythe. Further exhibits are found on all floors of the building and all can be viewed on-line if you can't make it to Stanford.

William Gates

Stanford University's William Gates Computer Science Building has been made possible by the generous donations of Mr. William H. Gates and

Allied Signal A T & T Foundation
Digital Equipment Corporation Engineering Venture Fund
Fujitsu Limited William R. Hewlett
Hewlett-Packard Company J. Erik Jonsson
Lockheed Martin Corporation Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
N E C Corporation Pacific Gas and Electric Company
Michael and Lenore Roberts Rockwell
Southern California Edison Company 3M Company
Toshiba Corporation TRW Foundatio

 

We would also like to recognize the generousity of the School of EngineeringVenture Fund investment volunteers:

William K. Bowes, Jr. Brook H. Byers
Reid W. Dennis William C. Edwards
Thomas W. Ford Franklin P. Johnson, Jr.
Glenn M. Mueller Denise M. O'Leary
Donald T. Valentine