SIEPR's new home to be dedicated on March 11
The John A. and Cynthia Fry Gunn Building will house the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research and aid generations of students, economic researchers and policymakers.
The palette of materials both on the exterior and interior of the John A. & Cynthia Fry Gunn Building were chosen with an eye toward beauty, durability and practicality.
The John A. and Cynthia Fry Gunn Building, home to the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR), will be dedicated in a private ceremony on Thursday, March 11. Occupants of the new building are scheduled to move in March 19.
The building is a gift of alumnus John Gunn, a university trustee and SIEPR Advisory Board chair, and his wife, Cynthia. It is located at the corner of Galvez Street and Memorial Way, next to SIEPR's former base, the Landau Economics Building. The Stanford Center on Longevity will move into SIEPR's former space in Landau. Landau also houses the Department of Economics.
"With the completion of the John A. and Cynthia Fry Gunn Building, SIEPR reaches a new scale and level of influence for improving economic policy," said John Shoven, the Wallace R. Hawley Director of SIEPR and the Charles R. Schwab Professor of Economics. "Generations of students, economic researchers and policymakers will benefit from the generosity of all of the donors to this building."
Shoven, President John Hennessy and several of the building's donors will speak at the dedication ceremony.
The new 32,000-square-foot building, designed by Ike Kligerman Barkley Architects in association with Kornberg Associates, is meant to evoke Stanford's traditional Romanesque quadrangles and the campus' many early 20th-century Bakewell & Brown buildings.
Painters put the finishing touches on the banister of the grand staircase in the Gunn Building on Tuesday afternoon.
"I believe the Gunn Building will in time be considered one of the fine jewels of the Stanford campus," said University Architect David Lenox. "Its attention to timeless architectural materials and detail, its use of elegant landscape to create unique outdoor spaces and its commitment to supporting a meaningful global institute provides an enduring addition to the Farm."
The front of the Gunn Building recalls the original Memorial Arch, the entrance to the Main Quadrangle that was destroyed during the earthquake of 1906.
The Gunn Building entrance elevation is the face of one of two red-tile-roofed pavilions. These pavilions serve as bookends, flanking the transparent north wing, which features repetitive stone-faced piers. A glazed connector joins the north wing to a more solid south wing with double-story arches. The two wings form a garden, designed by landscape architects SWA, featuring the Cynthia Fry Gunn Courtyard with a bosque of orange trees. The garden extends the length of the block, joining the new Gunn Building with Landau.
Porticos run the length of both wings, leading to the building's courtyard entrance in the glass connector. The lobby's main feature is a three-story circular stair. The entire ground floor of the south wing houses the Koret Taube Conference Center, while the north wing accommodates offices. The two upper floors of the wings are lined with offices with floor-to-ceiling glass. The interior walls of the offices are also glazed, which allows for natural lighting. The Donald L. Lucas Lounge is located on the second floor of the glazed connector that opens onto the Richard M. Lucas Foundation Terrace. A skylight over the Johnson Conference Center Room allows natural light into the center of the south wing. The Dixon and Carol Doll Conference Room occupies the third floor, affording views of Memorial Auditorium.
The palette of materials both on the exterior and interior were chosen with an eye toward beauty, durability and practicality. Minnesota limestone is used to accentuate important architectural moments and serve as frames for the Hopes steel-sash windows. These banks of windows are set within stucco walls and capped with traditional Gladding McBean red-tile roofs. The interiors feature native western softwood doors and paneling, red travertine surfaces and abundant glass to diffuse sunlight throughout the building.
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