SFI opens new lecture hall at Miller Campus

Less than a year after SFI Trustee Bill Gurley generously funded the construction of SFI’s largest meeting space, the Gurley Forum is opening its doors. With floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors and a covered portal overlooking the Sangre de Cristo mountains, this dynamic space will both support existing activities and enable experiments in new modes of doing science. On April 25–26, SFI hosted the 2025 Complexity Science Symposium in the building, the first of many larger science events that haven’t previously been possible on SFI’s campuses.

Art collector Eugene Thaw’s 2012 donation of his estate in Tesuque opened a new possibility to meet SFI’s growing needs. The Thaw gift was the seed for the idea for a new campus. In 2018, SFI Trustee Bill Miller provided a gift to transform the property into a fully fledged second campus, with multiple new facilities, walking trails, studios, and offices, all in a beautiful mountain landscape. The new campus connects students, business leaders, SFI’s local community, and a worldwide audience with complexity science, all of which supports potential new understanding. “Insights can change the world,” Miller commented during a 2019 ribbon-cutting ceremony that officially opened the namesake Miller Campus. 

Over the past several years, science activities at SFI have grown in size, number, and ambition. A decade ago, SFI was already beginning to burst at its seams, with a growing need for additional space for resident and visiting researchers, staff, and support at SFI’s Cowan Campus.

The new building will meet all those functional needs, and more. SFI staff architect Thomas Easterson-Bond has designed a space at the Miller Campus to host a group of 10 as comfortably as 200 and foster inspired thinking, collaborative conversations, and innovative approaches to SFI’s science. A covered walkway connects the main building to an outdoor dining space, named “Network Effect,” along with a professional catering kitchen. The outdoor space is cantilevered over a reflecting pond with gorgeous views. As a whole, the building’s aesthetic was inspired by the community’s agricultural history, says Easterson-Bond.

“This is an incredible step up in SFI’s ability to host large meetings in a beautiful, functional space expressly designed to support and showcase our science at the source,” says SFI Vice President for Science Jennifer Dunne. 

Following the April Complexity Science Symposium, the Gurley Forum will host two large science meetings: the May 22–23 “Emergent Engineering Technology Forum” led by SFI President David Krakauer, and the June 16–18 “Science of History” meeting organized by SFI External Professors Kyle Harper (University of Oklahoma), Doug Erwin (Smithsonian Institution), and others. The building will also offer working space for educational programs held throughout the summer. 

This flexible space also allows SFI to experiment with new types of science meetings. With support from the Zegar Family Foundation and the Omidyar Network, the Gurley Forum will host a multi-week working group this August that seeks to significantly advance the use of data-driven agent-based models. This approach is particularly useful when considering the impact of significant and novel changes to economic systems. Due to space constraints, SFI could not have accommodated this working group at Cowan Campus. 

“The ability to hold a month-long summer meeting at SFI is very valuable in advancing the high-risk, high-rigor, high-impact science that draws us to the Institute,” says SFI External Professor J. Doyne Farmer (University of Oxford), who is organizing the meeting.  

Even the process of planning and constructing the Gurley Forum has reflected the spirit of collaboration that underlies SFI science. “Many contractors want you to hand them a set of plans, and then they’ll hand you a key,” says SFI VP for Administration Janet Gunn. “That’s not SFI.” 

SFI administrators worked with the builders and contractors when unexpected challenges arose. “It’s a hard thing to do in architecture because there’s so much money at stake,” says Easterson-Bond. General contractor Gilbert Almager, owner of Stone Bridge Construction, was up for the challenge. For instance, when the team realized that a planned 200-foot-deep water would be too shallow, they kept drilling. While a deeper well meant greater upfront costs, it was a decision that will support the building’s sustainability. 

An eye toward sustainability guided many other decisions as well. “The most responsible thing you can do as an architect is reuse,” says Easterson-Bond, noting the already completed renovations to Miller Campus’ Plan 9, Thaw House, and Melville House. The new structure incorporates a passive house design with high thermal R-values. Locally sourced materials reduced shipping distances, and partnering with New Mexico-based companies like Stone Bridge Construction, Santa Fe Steel, and the Santa Fe-based B.Public Prefab helped deepen relationships with our local community.

With the inauguration of the Gurley Forum, SFI researchers and staff look forward to the ideas, conversations, and collaborations that will emerge from this new space. 

“I can think of little better than working on profound ideas in a mountain setting in an incredibly elegant building,” adds SFI President David Krakauer. “The Miller campus and Gurley Forum provide something for all science pilgrims.”