When it comes to the design of the new National Weather Center in Norman, Oklahoma, the outlook?s sunny. Designed by Tulsa-based architecture firm Beck Design, in conjunction with LAN/Daly, and built by Oscar J. Boldt Construction, the 9-story structure has two atriums, one oriented north-south and the other east-west, with glass curtain walls on the northeast and southwest corners, allowing for maximum visibility outward.

Many of the center's classrooms, laboratories, and offices incorporate large windows and skylights to allow for observation of the weather. With a façade of brick, cast-stone, and metal, the building was engineered to withstand 144-mph winds (an F2 tornado).

While bringing the outside in, the architects also had to accommodate scientists' and students' need for educational and research spaces that could be darkened to view the monitors and projections used to analyze the weather.

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