Linear Accelerator Center opens 112-room guest house

A new 112-room guest house at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) had its official opening June 19, attracting several hundred visitors from SLAC and the main university campus. The guest house is intended to provide overnight and short-term accommodations for individuals affiliated with SLAC or Stanford.

"SLAC used to stand out as the only big physics lab in the world without accommodation for scientists on site," said physicist Eli Rosenberg. "Now it stands out because it has the best on-site accommodations in the world."

SLAC Director Jonathan Dorfan and Shirley Everett, associate vice provost for Residential and Dining Enterprises, presided over the opening day ceremonies. Visitors toured the rooms and tried out the fitness center. Each room has a double bed, Internet connection, cable TV, dresser, armoire, desk and chair. There are a number of room configurations with slightly different nightly rates.

About 3,000 scientists visit SLAC each year and about 80 percent of the rooms at the guest house are reserved for them. The university has priority access to the remaining rooms. However, during the next six months, the SSRL X-ray light source, one of SLAC's major experimental facilities, is being upgraded. As a result, the usual number of scientists conducting experiments at SLAC will decrease significantly, boosting the availability of the guest rooms to university visitors.

Construction on the three-story building began in April 2002 and was completed on schedule. The university contributed the $10.7 million to build the facility, which will be repaid from guest house revenues.