The Software Engineering Institute is a federally funded research and development center established and operated by Carnegie Mellon University. Its objective is to increase the quality and to decrease the cost of software by improving the program development process. SEI, however, recognizes a fundamental academic principle: that the major generators of ideas are people. The design challenge, therefore, was to create an environment capable of supporting intense intellectual activity and extraordinary security measures, while still nurturing the university's traditional "human" commitment to education and to academic freedom.