Los Alamos National Laboratory

Nicholas C. Metropolis Center for Modeling & Simulation

Client

Los Alamos National Laboratory

Location

Los Alamos, New Mexico

Description

The Nicholas C. Metropolis Center (formally known as the Strategic Computing Complex or SCC) project is a 290,000 SF three story advanced computing facility in the center of Los Alamos National Laboratory?s primary campus, Technical Area Three (TA3). Its mission is to support the Accelerated Strategic Computing Initiative (ASCI) between three National Laboratories: Los Alamos and Sandia, both in New Mexico, and Lawrence Livermore in California. The ASCI program focuses on nuclear safeguards, weapons system certifications and stockpile life extensions.Central to the design is a 43,500 SF mainframe computer room with 160ft clear span trusses. In addition there are 300 simulation spaces for computer scientists, designers and code developers. For group demonstrations there are two specialty visualization theaters and a 200 seat lecture hall. The project was a Design Build delivery approach led by Hensel Phelps Construction. The total project cost was $64,000,000.

Executive Architect: HDR, Inc.

Architectural Project Manger/Project Designer: Matt Sears while affiliated with HDR

Visualization, Simulation Labs, Super Computer