engineering

Mesa Laboratory

Mesa Laboratory is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mesa Laboratory rather than just read about it. In short: The Mesa Laboratory of the National Center for Atmospheric Research is a research center located in Boulder, Colorado. The building complex was designed by modernist architect I.

Key takeaways

Mesa Laboratory belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mesa Laboratory to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mesa Laboratory from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Mesa Laboratory of the National Center for Atmospheric Research is a research center located in Boulder, Colorado. The building complex was designed by modernist architect I. M. Pei in 1961 as his first project outside of city building design. It has been noted for its Anasazi-inspired architecture and use of bush-hammered concrete to blend into the surrounding area.

Design and construction In 1960 the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) appointed Walter Orr Roberts as the founding director of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and designated the Table Mesa below the Flatirons sandstone cliffs as its laboratory site. After agreeing to preserve the entire 565-acre (2.29 km2) site from development, the state of Colorado purchased the land and turned it over to NCAR for the research laboratory. Pietro Belluschi, then the dean of architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology advised Roberts on the selection of the architect for the center. Utilizing the deans of architecture at the UCAR constituent universities as an expert committee, they eventually selected I. M. Pei as the project's architect. Until this time, Pei had been known for his work on large-scale urban projects and for his innovative use of concrete in building and lacked a reputation in rural projects or laboratory constructions. However, from 1962 to 1964 Pei dedicated a significant portion of his time to designing the lab. Through his revisions he moved from a single tall tower concept to a series of three 5 story towers set up in a village-like model. Also, he moved from a single stage construction to an incremental two phase approach that better suited NCAR's National Science Foundation-imposed budget constraints. Despite the budgetary constraints, Pei managed to incorporate such features as bush-hammering of the concrete finish and crows nests on top of the towers that sought to meet NCAR's goal of a complex structure.

Pei based his design on the Anasazi cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde. He used techniques such as bush-hammering the concrete, laying out geometric shapes for the buildings, and using a local pinkish aggregate to help the complex blend in with the surrounding Flatirons hills on the Table Mesa. He also laid out the building in a maze-like fashion to encourage greater interaction among the scientists. In January 1963 the NSF approved Pei's design, modifying it by removing the south tower and conference center to meet the budget constraints. In April 1964 the Martin K. Eby Construction Company broke ground on the lab, with an estimated cost of $23.50 per square foot, well within the limit set of $25. The building was completed in 1966 and dedicated in 1967. Despite problems with leaky roofs and personnel flow, the building was considered a success in the scientific and architectural communities and, as of 2009, remains the primary NCAR laboratory. In 1969 Pei designed the complementary Fleischmann Building on the same site to serve as the administrative headquarters of UCAR. The main building was expanded underground in 1977 to make room for the expanded supercomputer studies and in 1980 an above-ground annex provided additional space. In 2008, Pei donated a 68 by 98-inch (2,500 mm) model of the Mesa site from the 1960s to the laboratory for a history display.

Reaction The lab won the 1967 Laboratory of the Year award by Industrial Research Magazine and the 1997 American Institute of Architects: Colorado Chapter's 25 Year Award. The latter award is given for buildings that continue to serve their original function and have withstood the "test of time" over a 25- to 35-year period. The center was also named Best Research Center by Go! magazine in 2007.

Appearances in popular culture

The Mesa Laboratory appeared prominently towards the end of the 1973 Woody Allen cult classic film Sleeper, wherein it also serves as the location of a laboratory. It appears in the 1996 film The Arrival. The 2017 video game Horizon Zero Dawn used the building as the location of a bandit camp in its post-apocalyptic Colorado. The building appears as the exterior of a research laboratory in the 2024 film Elevation.

References

External links

NCAR Archives Online Exhibit and Digital Archive, "Design and Construction of the Mesa Laboratory"

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mesa Laboratory

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mesa Laboratory claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mesa Laboratory before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mesa Laboratory ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mesa Laboratory

In research: Mesa Laboratory appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mesa Laboratory in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mesa Laboratory is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1966 establishments in Colorado, Brutalist architecture in the United States, Buildings and structures completed in 1966, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mesa Laboratory outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Mesa Laboratory in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mesa Laboratory means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mesa Laboratory out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mesa Laboratory in simple terms?

The Mesa Laboratory of the National Center for Atmospheric Research is a research center located in Boulder, Colorado. The building complex was designed by modernist architect I.

Why does Mesa Laboratory matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mesa Laboratory?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mesa Laboratory.