Once upon a time it was easy to spot the physics/maths department on a university campus. You just found a decent vantage point, looked for the ugliest building you could see, and there you go. One (nameless) department I visited was not only ugly, but so dusty that I spent my whole visit with my nose streaming, my eyes watering, and sneezing every few minutes. The people there commiserated with me on all the flu going around that winter. I didn't have the heart to tell them I felt fine until I walked into their building, and sure enough an hour or two after leaving I was back to normal.
But things are changing. Last week I was at a conference at the Alba Nova Centre in Stockholm. On a good day this building could do a passable impression of a (modern) art museum. Here's a piccie of the interior
Nice, but as a colleague pointed out, it does bear a passing resemblance to a prison block. Another cool building I've been to is the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo, Canada. This place is equipped with a gym, squash court, and even a snooker table (I guess it helps when a multi-millionaire hands over a huge wad of cash!). Here's the back view
The summer I was there a duck decided to raise her young ones on the pond, and very cute they were too. There was an unfortunate incident when some of them fell into a shaft thing sticking out of the pond, but some enterprising soul managed to hoist them back up by constructing a duckling elevator device out of a CD and some string (eat your heart out Blue Peter!)
Where was I? Oh yes, physics buildings. I was lucky enough to be at Cambridge when the maths department there first moved into their new buildings. They were supposed to be of the intelligent sort, with blinds that closed automatically, lights that switched themselves on and off, that sort of thing. But in the beginning they were having a few teething problems. So you would be sitting in a seminar, and the blinds would randomly decide to start moving down. Then back up a bit. Then down again. Eventually they found a position they liked and settled down, only to begin the whole process again ten minutes later. Very spooky!
Okay, so it's going to be a while before a physics or maths department wins an award for architecture. But at least we're moving in the right direction.
