Topping Off the Gates Hillman Center
The steel is almost all up on the Gates Hillman Center, the future home for the Computer Science Department and the Machine Learning Department. To see a 517-megapixel gigapan picture of the west wall, check out http://gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=9585. On the left-hand side is the Hillman Center, and the main structure in the center and right is the Gates Center. You can get a good view of the SCS Dean’s suite (i.e., Randy Bryant’s offices) and the new location for our Black Friday meetings. As you might imagine, the views from those locations in the building are really spectacular. I’ve now had two walk-through tours of the building, and believe me it is truly amazing.
On Monday, September 29, 2008, at 3pm, the construction company will have a topping-off ceremony. This is a tradition where the people involved in the project sign the last beam before it is hoisted into place. (I’m told that a small evergreen tree will be put on the beam for good luck. :-) I hope lots of people show up!
Unfortunately, I’m going to miss it! I am in Washington DC now and won’t get back until Monday night. Argh!
Luckily, I was able to sign the beam early this morning. Guy Blelloch, the faculty lead for the building project, met me and marked off a part of the beam for the building committee:
And then I signed the beam:
I did wonder if I should write a special message. I reflected on the tremendous history of computer science at Carnegie Mellon. So many giants have roamed the halls of Wean Hall, so many great ideas developed. I realized that I couldn’t even begin to imagine what kinds of new ideas might be discovered in the new building complex. What men and women will walk the hallways, yet to realize their greatness? Perhaps someone will be distracted momentarily by a shaft of light or a view over the cut, only to stumble later over the next paradigm-shifting invention.
In the end, I realized that it was hopeless to think that I could write anything that would truly honor the magnificant aspirations we have as a university. I feel humbled by the opportunity to preserve something of mine in the building; this is one of the greatest privileges of my career. I decided to sign, simply, “Peter Lee”.
Peter Lee @ September 25, 2008