Pierce Allston_CERN Summary

My name is Pierce Allston, and as a student in Architecture at the University of Michigan, it was an honor and a privilege to be wooed and wowed at my time at CERN. I first off want to thank Panos Charitos, along with Sandra Manninger and Matias del Campo for this opportunity to visit, and dive into the inner workings of the CERN Campus, plans for the future, and especially the science behind it all. This allowed us students to start to come to grasps with the gravity the research and experiments being done at CERN.  Part of the reason for our visit was to understand the current campus, its inner-workings, day-to-day operations and layout, along with one-on-one accounts with scientists and researchers alike to get their perspectives.  The hands on experience and visits to the labs and especially detectors was mesmerizing.  Words, and even pictures, cannot describe the scale and aesthetic beauty of it all.  Admittingly as an architecture student, I had little to no knowledge of CERN, let alone the colliders, detectors or even the research being done.  CERN is a different world, one that I am not used to or even comfortable with.  The opportunity to bring in my expertise or architecture and art, I believe, is a monumental one.

There has always been an issue of informing the public and masses, while keeping them engaged; and our speculative design proposal for a new campus is the perfect opportunity. With this goal in mind, just walking through the campus was eye opening.  Anyone can power on Google Earth and view the campus from satellite pictures, and even, when applicable, Google Street View panoramas. But, being there, walking through the maze of the buildings and, if you were courageous enough, the hallways, was a sight to behold. No map can effectively help you navigate. However, the beauty of this was the apparent natural expansion and need-based planning, almost like the veins of a leaf, sprouting out every which-way, with seemingly no master-plan in mind. As a first impression, this was, looking back, a perfect intro to CERN. 

We were lucky enough to visit 3 of the 4 detectors of the LHC, and going down under ground to visit those was something that I’d never forget.  The visit to the Microcosm was a great jumping off point, allowing us to be introduced to the science of it all, as well as a short bit of history as well as current operating mechanics. One of the coolest experiences, aside from visiting the detectors themselves, was our visit to the CCC.  This was imperative, as it allowed us students to begin to grasp the scale of the projects going on at CERN, as well as the needed teamwork and manpower to run things 24/7, even when experiments were not running.  The visit to the CMS and ATLAS experiments, and being able to actually go underground and experience the machines essentially face-to-face was awe inspiring. Again, the breadth of the scale of it all began to come into focus. I think I not only speak for myself, but my classmates, by saying that the quick yet detailed diagrams and introductions to the physics of it all, and what the detectors are actually doing, allowed us to better understand not only the current state of CERN, but as well the future expansion and construction of new experiments.  This was one of the many moments where reading articles and viewing slides online did not do the reality of the matter any justice at all. It was imperative that we experience this first hand to better understand human’s interaction with the machine. 

One of the highlights of the trip, by far, was being able to go down to visit ALICE. The reason for the gravity of this visit, was the opportunity to not only meet with Prof. Tapan Nayak, but being able to get so close to the detector. Visiting ATALS and CMS, we were brought alongside the detectors, although with CMS it was amazing seeing the detector ‘pulled apart’, but with ALICE we were really able to get up close and personal with the detector. Coming from it from the front, and seeing the massive machine parts and scale of it all up close and personal.  Another awesome aspect about the visit was getting a clear shot of looking up one of the gigantic shafts. At the other experiments, we had tried, futilely I might add, to get a straight look up or down the massive concrete shafts that plunged into the earth. Underneath visiting ALICE, we had the experience of being able to look straight up, about 75m or so if I remember correctly.  Again, this enormous scale is what really captivated us. Seeing diagrams of the detector next to the human helps visualize scenarios such as this, but being ‘down in the trenches’ is something totally new. 

Again, being architecture students, all of this was new to us. We’re not used to the ins-and-outs of particle physics, or being able to fully grasp the possibilities of the universe. However, just because you don’t totally understand a subject doesn’t mean you can’t begin to grasp, to understand, or even to engage in it.  This trip allowed us to step into the world of CERN, and learn where we as architects can take part, and participate.  Meeting with engineers, physicists, cosmologists, and everyone else allowed us to step into a new world where we can make a positive difference.  What the people at CERN and those around the world who engage with the statistics and data offer, is momentous. Part of the role of architecture is to engage the user with its environment, both the users who work at CERN as well as the world of people who want to learn about CERN. None of this vision that we gathered during our visit would have been possible from just looking through the computer screen.  This vision was brightened and expanded thanks to the hands-on experience that we were able to have. Thanks again to Panos, who set up our meetings, demonstrations, visits, and meetings. I believed all of our projects that we have been working on gained new life, and new paths for design.  Seeing is believing.