The Brown Institute’s official name is The David and Helen Gurley Brown Institute for Media Innovation. Helen Gurley Brown, author, publisher, businesswoman and longtime Cosmopolitan editor, gave a $30 million gift in remembrance of her husband David Brown, a movie producer and author/publisher, to establish the Institute in collaboration with Stanford University’s School of Engineering and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. $12 million was awarded to endow a professorship each at Stanford and Columbia from where Brown graduated. Part of the gift went toward the construction of a “highly visible signature space” for students and the rest is funding research through awarding annual “Magic Grants” to Brown fellows to foster innovation in journalism and technology. Gordon Prill was commissioned to provide several pre-construction architectural design concepts and renderings for a flexible use student space that included a Central Lounge, Conference Room, Group Work Space, and a Rapid Prototyping Lab. Gordon Prill Design and Construction team worked hand-in-hand to develop a final plan to deliver a fully digital contemporary “smart” classroom that promotes bi-coastal collaboration with the following features:
- Digital curtain screen for all windows
- Two Television screens, one with webcam for web conferencing
- Dimmable halo lights
- N-light: controls AV screen projector, HVAC and lighting
- Accordion wall for open balcony access
- All room appliances can be changed from convenient wall switch panel
