Design and Construction of the NCAR Mesa Lab

Perched high atop a mesa over looking Boulder sits the Mesa Laboratory, Ieoh Ming Pei’s headquarters of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). This is the story of the Mesa Laboratory, its design, construction, and importance to the study of the atmosphere and our Earth. This online exhibit traces the beginning of NCAR and its iconic Mesa Laboratory through original photographs, documents, films, and oral history interviews.

Browse the Collection
Aerial view of the NCAR Mesa Laboratory building site.

Timeline of Mesa Laboratory Development

Timeline of Mesa Laboratory Development

Advertisement supporting the amendment to allow NCAR to build the Mesa Laboratory, 1961

Selecting Boulder as the Site for NCAR's Headquarters

Selecting Boulder as the Site for NCAR's Headquarters

Preserving the Natural Landscape

Preserving the Natural Landscape

Selecting the Architect

In a room crowded with cabinets, Walter Orr Roberts, I.M. Pei, and two others look at papers that are spread across a table in the middle of the room.

Selection of the Architect: Ieoh Ming Pei

The public mandate for a building that would harmonize with the site was foremost in the minds of the selection committee when it began searching for an architect. 

Design of the Mesa Laboratory

Pei described the early days of work on the NCAR commission in almost religious terms. 

Construction of the Mesa Laboratory

Ground was broken on the NCAR site in June of 1964.

Spiral staircase in the Mesa Lab library. The staircase is surrounded by book stacks and there are skylights in the ceiling above.

Significance

The Mesa Laboratory has made its mark on modern architecture.  

Selecting the Architect
The Mesa Lab lobby with a mural of the solar corona, 1967.

Dedication

The building was dedicated in May 1967 with a formally ceremony to mark the event. 

A group of people walk towards the foothills with the west side of the Mesa Lab behind them. The photo was taken during Earth Day tours of the Mesa Lab in 1970.

Digging Deeper

More information about the history of the National Center for Atmospheric Research