From cryogenics to lasers, vacuum chambers to superconductors, some of the most advanced research equipment available is needed to explore quantum phenomena. But creating a dedicated building for such sensitive and cutting-edge research into the nature of space and time requires advanced planning, design and construction. This is happening now at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, California, where the Center for Quantum Precision Measurement Dr. Allen and Charlotte Ginsburg (GCQPM) is on track to become the first facility to bring together researchers to explore quantum physics and phenomena at all scales.
“From the beginning of the study phases, the project has evolved dramatically to what it is now programmatically,” says Eugene Kim, team leader for planning, design and construction at Caltech. But the idea of a collaborative building that would be the center of all things quantum solidified in 2020 and 2021, and 2023 saw new construction on the 70,000 square meter facility. Its scope includes a four-story building and an expansive basement that extends west under the historic campus entrance on the north side of California Boulevard. Almost half of that area is below grade, says Adaeze Cadet, HOK’s design director and lead designer of the GCQPC. The basement level passes below the existing plaza space, far exceeding the footprint of the original site. The project has about 24,000 square meters of laboratory space and 40,000 square meters of offices. It also has large multipurpose spaces and collaboration areas.
More than 31,000 cubic meters of soil had to be moved to make way for the expansive basement of the Ginsburg Center.
Photo courtesy of Charles Pankow Builders
“It’s a mix of experimental and theoretical, so experimental in the basement labs and then the experimental scientists at the upper levels,” explains Cadet. “It’s really one of their last big infill projects. The campus is getting really tight right now. We’ve had to walk that line between innovation and preserving the historic context.”
The building itself sits on a compact site where an older physics building was demolished in 2016, right between Linde Hall and the Downs-Lauritsen Building. Being embedded between these existing structures and connected via a new bridge and tunnel, this new space will act as a key to help tie these existing buildings together and aid the cross-pollination of ideas and innovation between these three main divisions within the school, says Cadet.
Along with the 36-inch-thick flush slab, the basement walls are 30 inches thick and require 2,000 m3 of shotcrete.
Photo courtesy of Charles Pankow Builders
Coming Together
While quantum buildings and labs are not new to Caltech, their relatively dispersed nature across campus was part of the rationale for bringing everything under one roof.
Because the project is located in Caltech’s historic core, it also required an extensive review by the city, following the US Secretary of the Interior’s guidelines for historic buildings and the removal and in-kind replacement of any historic elements.
“It’s really one of the [Caltech’s] last major infill projects. The campus is getting really tight right now.”
—Adaeze Cadet, Design Director, HOK
“We used fiber cement panels to kind of represent the cement plaster of the historic buildings to give it some weight,” says Cadet. “That was a way to keep it modern but still give it that solidity. And then, where we went through the historic buildings, we took that as an opportunity to have this turning point with these prisms and fins that had the rhythm of the old building but with a new material. So it looks like it belongs, but it still feels new and different.”
When Architect of Record HOK won the project, the GCQPM was a traditional design-bid-build job. After the schematic design, the delivery changed to design-build, at which point Charles Pankow Builders joined the team as the contractor. “In light of such a collaborative research center, the project naturally warranted … a collaborative delivery method [for itself]adds Kim.
The researchers played a vital role in the design of the facilities, and even inspired some creative elements. “They really talked about some important topics around science, so we were able to represent this idea of quantum entanglement with prisms in our two main entrances in the southwest and northeast corners,” says Cadet. The fins on the glass curtain wall also form a pattern that subtly references Caltech’s double-slit experiment, which showed that light and matter can exhibit the behavior of both classical particles and classical waves.
The Ginsburg Center is compactly located on Caltech’s Pasadena campus. It has multiple design concepts that add to the amenities and visual impact of the facility.
Representation courtesy of HOK
Impossible Sound
Creating basement laboratories with impeccable air temperature control and stability, low vibration, and limited noise would be critical to accommodate highly sensitive quantum measurement equipment.
“The challenge of this site is how close we are to California Boulevard, which is one of the busiest areas in the city, let alone the campus,” says Kim.
And because the facility will support science for the next 75-plus years, “the building framework had to be flexible and stable enough for today’s specialized equipment, while still being able to accommodate future and unknown equipment,” explains Charles Iacuaniello, Pankow’s senior project manager. “This stability was achieved through complete electromagnetic interference [EMI] and vibration mitigation strategy”.
Crews floated existing utilities (encased in a green pipe) when working in the tunnel to avoid disruption.
Photo courtesy of Charles Pankow Builders
One example includes an adjacent electrical room that could not be relocated. As a result, this equipment had to be shielded to contain EMI. To do this, crews lined the floor and walls of the power room with fully welded ¼-in. aluminum and ⅛ in. steel plating “This cladding combination mitigated the 60 Hz AC magnetic field generated by the nearby electrical transformer,” says Iacuaniello.
To limit vibrations, a 36-inch-thick slab on grade was placed at the basement level. “The increased mass and stiffness of the thick concrete slab provided a significant benefit in reducing vibration, especially due to traffic on California Boulevard,” notes Iacuaniello.
“In light of such a collaborative research center, the project naturally warranted … a collaborative delivery method [for itself]”.
—Eugene Kim, Team Leader, Planning, Design and Construction, Caltech
The basement walls are also 30 inches thick and require 2,000 m3 of shotcrete, while 1,300 tons of reinforcing steel run throughout the building.
Much of the research equipment that goes into the basement labs is installed directly on the slab to keep it stable, Cadet adds. “Then we have traditional waterproofing because of sensitive equipment down there,” he says.
To create space for the expansive basement, crews excavated more than 31,000 cubic yards of soil, giving the basement labs a clear height of nearly 23 feet. But with a site that has more than a century of history, the team has also faced major service relocations and unforeseen conditions.
Building the tunnel below grade, for example, required working under a bank of electrical conduits. In response, the team created a specialized support structure to “float” existing utilities around the site, keeping them out of the way of ongoing work and avoiding disruption to existing buildings during basement construction, Iacuaniello explains. As for the bridge, which sits above the tunnel, the connection required linking to the decades-old Downs-Lauritsen Building, an occupied space that required additional engineering and precision sequencing.
The frit pattern on the facade refers to a famous experiment that shows that light and matter can act as particles and waves.
Photo courtesy of Charles Pankow Builders
With such complex basement lab requirements, Pankow’s team performed extensive trade sequencing during preconstruction to avoid conflicts with framing, ducting, piping, and finishes, which also allowed for significant wall and ceiling work to be installed prior to MEP systems without rework. Simultaneous installation of curtain wall and exterior framing systems also sped up the schedule.
As part of the push toward LEED Gold certification, one of the sustainability strategies for this concrete moment frame structure included a low-carbon concrete mix.
While construction remains on time and on budget for a fall 2026 completion, halfway through September, Kim anticipates the commissioning process to be particularly challenging.
Engineering the building has been demanding, “but seeing how you maintain 0.1 degrees Fahrenheit stability in all your labs when there are 10,000 things that can go wrong,” that’s the challenge, he notes. “Once we get the energy systems in place, this particular building is going to be one for the ages from an engineering, commissioning, testing and balancing standpoint, just because of how sensitive and accurate those means have to be.”
