Gates Computer Science Building
Designed to Foster Interaction
The Gates Building is named for Bill Gates, co-founder and CEO of Microsoft Corp., who gave a $6 million gift to the project. It was completed in January 1996 and is the home of the Computer Science Department. The 150,000-square-foot building houses 550 faculty, staff, and students and cost $38M to build and furnish. Robert A. M. Stern Associates of New York and Fong and Chan of San Francisco were the architects, selected following an invited national competition. Rudolph & Sletten of Foster City was the general contractor. There were 47 subcontractors working over a 16-month period.
The Gates Building was designed to promote interaction.


Stanford University's William Gates Computer Science Building has been made possible by the generous donations of Mr. William H. Gates and the following corporations and individuals:
Allied Signal | Fujitsu Limited | Lockheed Martin Corporation | Michael and Lenore Roberts | Toshiba Corporation |
A T & T Foundation | William R. Hewlett | Mitsubishi Electric Corporation | Rockwell | TRW Foundation |
Digital Equipment Corporation | Hewlett-Packard Company | NEC Corporation | Southern California Edison Company | |
Engineering Venture Fund | J. Erik Jonsson | Pacific Gas and Electric Company | 3M Company |
We would also like to recognize the generosity of the School of Engineering Venture Fund investment volunteers:
William K. Bowes, Jr. | William C. Edwards | Glenn M. Mueller |
Brook H. Byers | Thomas W. Ford | Denise M. O'Leary |
Reid W. Dennis | Franklin P. Johnson, Jr. | Donald T. Valentine |