Subterranean experiments play a crucial role in particle physics research. To provide the required state-of-the-art facility, our team worked directly with scientists of the University of California at Berkeley and the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology along with the National Science Foundation to develop the Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory (DUSEL) in the former Homestake gold mine in Lead, South Dakota. Descending as far as 7,400 feet below the earth’s surface, Homestake is the northern hemisphere’s deepest mine, and DUSEL will be the world’s largest and deepest underground laboratory.

Davis Brody Bond, a Page company worked in concert with Arup on the underground infrastructure, tunnel layouts, lab and support design, and safety protocols for DUSEL to create both a livable and functional environment for the scientists and their experiments. Conceptual design included seminar rooms and emergency command centers, as well as user amenities deep within the complex including a cafeteria, conference rooms, and academic lounges also to be used as emergency areas of refuge.

DUSEL’s design occupied much of the existing caverns and shafts, and included new, tailor-made research chambers. The existing mine infrastructure would be completely overhauled to prepare the site for research and operations at surface level, 300 feet, 4,850 feet, and 7,400 feet down. An additional 150,000 square feet of laboratory, support, and service space was designed to be available for work in physics, geology, hydrology, geo-engineering, biology, and biochemistry to make a total of 750,000 square feet. A surface station would provide further laboratories, operations support, and a public outreach center.

In 2017 DUSEL’s massive undertaking was scaled down and renamed the Sanford Underground Research Facility, or SURF, with a primary focus on physics. Davis Brody Bond, a Page company, with Arup, was again engaged to develop designs for the Long Base Neutrino Facility, Far Site, housed within a portion of SURF.