At the hairpin turn on La Jolla Shores Drive, four scientific research buildings sit atop an eroding cliff, only 20 feet away from the 180-foot drop to the Pacific Ocean. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) owns the four buildings, called the Southwest Fisheries Science Center (SWFSC), but has abandoned two of the buildings nearest the precarious cliff, which will likely be demolished by 2012. NOAA plans to move its scientists and their research across the street to a new facility by December of 2011. NOAA has begun excavating soil to build a 225,000-square-foot building on 3.3 acres with three levels of underground parking to accommodate 200 cars. NOAA will also construct a 33-foot-deep tank capable of holding 550,000 gallons of sea or fresh water, which will be used to test underwater acoustic and optical systems and floating devices, as well as to conduct experiments on marine animals. The $102 million project will be funded through federal dollars as part of the president’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The corner site on La Jolla Shores Drive has never been developed. Lead architect Bob Gould, with Gould Evans Associates out of San Francisco, said the building will be tucked into the hill to preserve views to the ocean. The building height from street level will range from 30 to 45 feet. Builders will carve out approximately 127,000 cubic yards of soil to sit the building into the hill. Gould said he aimed to incorporate the geological formations that created the underwater canyon in La Jolla into the building design. According to Gould, those geological formations end at the SWFSC building site. Gould said he reflected the land formations in his design by dividing the office and laboratory space into small, neighborhood-like units oriented around courtyards. The entire building revolves around a main courtyard that frames a view corridor to the southwest and La Jolla Cove. “[The design] allowed us to break up the mass of the building into narrower bars, which allows a lot of natural light and good, natural airflow through a lot of the offices,” Gould said. “We were responding to the land form that is out there and trying to reflect that in the building.” Vegetation will grow on the roof to help absorb rainwater, and terra cotta blinds will shade the building from the sun and ocean glare. The design team is collaborating with SDG&E to install solar panels on the roof to capture energy. “One material that can withstand the salt in the air is terra cotta,” Gould said. “We were also interested in it because of its natural warmth and tone finish. It will work well with the buildings that are close by that have wood.” Gould expects the building design will achieve the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) gold standard for its energy-efficient design. The American Institute of Architects San Diego chapter has already honored the SWFSC building with its highest award for “extraordinary, thoroughly resolved architectural design, worthy of the profession’s highest regard.” Both engineer firms for the project are based out of Missouri: prime consultant Gibbens Drake Scott and structural engineer TranSystems Corporation. After NOAA moves its operations into the new building by December of 2011, the University of California, San Diego will resume ownership of the remaining buildings on the cliff to be used by Scripps Institution of Oceanography.