Computing and Data Science Palo Alto campus development, Stanford University building photos, CoDa California

Computing and Data Science Building in Palo Alto

Post updated February 12, 2026

Design: LMN

Location: Palo Alto, California, USA

Photos: Bruce Damonte

October 29, 2025

Computing and Data Science Building, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California

LMN is pleased to celebrate the completion of the Computing and Data Science (CoDa) building. The 167,000-square-foot building is the nexus for groundbreaking computational and data science focused on research and learning, fostering an inclusive ecosystem for academics and students across disciplines to collaborate, create, and innovate.

Positioned at the crossroads of Lomita Mall and Jane Stanford Way near the center of the Stanford University campus, the new CoDa building sits adjacent to the historic main quad. The building’s central location symbolizes the university’s commitment to integrating data science into various academic disciplines, drawing from its proximity to the schools of Engineering, Humanities, and Sciences. Besides bridging disciplines, CoDa also unites old and new, stitching together the historic campus core with the adjacent arts, engineering, and medical precincts.

Sam Miller, Partner at LMN, comments: “Bringing the CoDa building to life at the heart of Stanford’s campus has been a true testament to the power of collaboration. Working closely with Stanford University and our project partners, we have helped create a space that not only advances the frontiers of data science but also honors a century of innovation at the School of Engineering. It stands as a symbol of what’s possible when vision, partnership, and dedication come together. We are proud to celebrate this milestone with Stanford University and look forward to seeing the CoDa building inspire generations of discovery and interdisciplinary achievement.”

Supporting collaboration in multiple forms, the building’s spatial arrangement establishes a vibrant incubator for innovation. The complex includes classrooms, Faculty and Administrative offices, Student study spaces, a coffee bar, and a 200-person event space defined by an iconic oval ceiling element intended to host both public and university-wide events. Student-focused spaces on the lower levels and research-focused neighborhoods comprising of research offices on the upper floors converge at the Hive—a 5-story mixing chamber identified by the cross-directional feature stair. Animated by natural light and campus views through its transparent enclosure, the Hive offers flexible, open community and collaborative work areas surrounded by meeting and conference rooms, designed to encourage impromptu encounters, conversations, and exchange of ideas.

The building’s organizational concept encourages collaboration both horizontally and vertically, symbolized by the colorful central Hive stair. The stair’s perforated guardrail system is designed around 8-bit binary code, providing a textural background that animates the space and speaks to the shared research language of the computer sciences. Expressed in Stanford red, the Hive stair serves as a strong visual signifier, embodying the ethos of the building’s collaborative spirit.

Outside, the building complex engages the campus’ established architectural language while looking squarely to the future. The design incorporates vertical terracotta panels on the façade that nod to the historic natural building materials across campus, while also providing sunshading for offices and collaboration spaces within. Extensive daylight analysis and energy modeling informed the building’s massing and window-to-wall ratio, improving daylight availability while providing ample shading to reduce glare and energy loads.

Stephen DeMayo, Principal at LMN, comments: “At the heart of Stanford’s campus, the CoDa building is designed to be much more than a home for computer and data science—it’s a crossroads for ideas, disciplines, and generations. By uniting the historic campus core with the university’s forward-looking precincts, you experience a space that bridges tradition and innovation. The Hive, with its vibrant, light-filled collaborative zones and the iconic binary-coded stair, embodies the spirit of discovery and connection that defines Stanford. Every design decision, from the terracotta façade to the flexible, transparent interiors, is intended to foster spontaneous collaboration and support the university’s mission to advance knowledge across boundaries.”

Combining rectilinear and curved geometries, the building’s form engages with a series of surrounding outdoor spaces and plazas, establishing multiple entry points that help weave it into larger campus circulation routes. In both location and program, the building offers a new launchpad for applying data science and computation across disciplines, creating opportunities for collaboration to address today’s most urgent challenges.

LMN is recipient of the 2016 AIA National Architecture Firm Award and is widely recognized for its design of projects that support smart, sustainable cities. The firm has designed over 154 projects on 52 campuses in the United States, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Center for Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington in Seattle; the Voxman Music Building at the University of Iowa in Iowa City; Clifton Court Hall at the University of Cincinnati in Cincinnati; the Wilbur O. and Ann Powers College of Business in Clemson; and the Interactive Learning Pavilion at the University of California, Santa Barbara.