Business & Tech

A Quick Tour of the Buck's New Building

Ribbon cutting is set for April 14 at the science center on Mount Burdell. Here's what it looks like on the inside.

One of the most noticeable things about the stunning new building up at the is how perfectly matched the granite is to the circa-1999 building. The first-generation structure, designed by all-world architect I.M. Pei, was made from Italian granite. The new slabs are from Idaho, but E-Harmony couldn't have matched them any better.

Scientists moving into the new $36.5 million Regenerative Medicine Research Center in the next few weeks hope the match is just as perfect between the research they'll conduct and what the world population needs to learn about geriatric science — Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and so many other ailments.

The brains at the Buck already have contributed critical research in its 13-year history, and one can only imagine how much progress will be made when the buildout is complete up on Mount Burdell. In fact, the Regenerative Medicine Research Center — desperate for a nickname — is just the third out of five buildings in the grand-scheme plan. It will be at a public party on April 14. Click here for the official preview from the Buck.

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Ralph O'Rear, the Buck's vice president for facilities and planning, gave a tour to publicist Kris Rebillot and a knuckle-dragging journalist a couple of weeks ago. As we passed over the threshold between the original building and the new one, O'Rear stopped in the hallway to point out the 12-inch strip in the floor tile. That's the gap between the two buildings that allows them to rock and roll more freely in the event of an earthquake.

Once we were in the hallway of the Regenerative Medicine Research Center (RegMedRec? Help me out here), the distinctive "new building smell" was 10 times more potent than what you remember of Grandpa's straight-from-the-showroom '78 Oldsmobile.

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O'Rear demonstrated how the doors keep temperatures constant in each room and help ensure laboratory cleanliness. It's pretty important to have a dialed-in environment when the nerdy Ph.Ds are toying with stem cells.

O'Rear pointed to reserve osmosis water deionizers, motion-control lighting, space-age fume hoods and digital imaging equipment that costs more than your house. Then he took Kris and I to a breakroom along a wall of windows that look due south on the city of Novato.

"Not a bad spot to come take a break," he said as we were wowed by views of San Francisco, the bay and Mount Diablo.

After swinging through the basement rooms where massive heating, air conditioning and power equipment hides out of sight, I mentioned that my internal GPS has gone haywire and I'd lost my bearings in the building's innards — am I facing north, south, east or west? He said the scientists would go through the same thing when they first move in, but they'll get used to it quickly.

"If you can't find your way around the basement, you're probably not going to cure cancer," he quipped.

O' Rear took us through a ground-level room that will serve as another break room and possibly a full-service restaurant once the buildout is complete, then out into the southern patio area that looks out over Novato. He wrapped up the tour at the spot where the ribbon cutting will take place in front of hundreds on April 14.

He said he was amazed at the progress over the past few weeks and months, but he knew it was going to be a mad scramble to put a pretty bow on the place prior to the coming-out party.

"I'm encouraged with each passing day," he said.


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