A multifaceted approach to research...

A multifaceted approach to research facility design

You could call it killing several birds with common well-aimed stone.

Think tank, social center architectural paradigm and campus nexus - not many university buildings are programmed to satisfy as diverse an array of requirements as the University of Illinois' Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology.

Housing scientists from more than a dozen university departments, including biochemistry, computer science and philosophy, the Urbana, Ill.-based Beckman is an interdisciplinary research center whose primary mission is