NSF NCAR Mesa Laboratory

The Mesa Laboratory stands on Table Mesa above Boulder: clusters of hooded concrete towers with the Flatirons behind and open grassland in front. Its pink-toned concrete is bush-hammered, a rough finish that lets mica in the stone catch the sun. It reads as a research base or government complex.

One road climbs 1.3 miles and 433 feet to free parking northeast of the building. The mesa can get high winds. The free Visitor Center is open seven days a week.

The lab and grounds are federal property, managed by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR). Its published policy does not permit TV or film production for commercial or nonscientific purposes. Productions it judges aligned with its mission need its approval of proposal and final product. Contact the media team at media@ucar.edu; no lead time is published. Requests may also need National Science Foundation approval.

City open space rules bar photography and filming on the NCAR trails, and photos from nearby trails must exclude the federal buildings.

I. M. Pei designed the laboratory, completed in 1966, for the National Center for Atmospheric Research, drawing on Mesa Verde’s cliffside buildings.