Chandra Suresh Memorial Center for Evolved Education
Suresh Center
Owner ReGenesis Foundation
Hours of Operation Closed for Repairs
Current Status Closed
People Come Here For… Reconstruction

The Suresh Center exists with the mission statement of fostering education and discussion regarding the Evolved. It is a place for seminars and conferences, with rooms available for reservation by anyone who wants to hold a meeting or lecture; for classes and discussion groups; for counseling and training and advice. Its three floors are open to the public, with some restrictions; the second floor is a small medical facility and psychiatric care center, so visitors are generally asked not to wander through needlessly.

Security at the Suresh Center is unobtrusive, but surprisingly extensive for a conference facility. Then again, it is a conference facility intended to address a very specific and highly controversial subject; who knows what malicious mischief a protester might get up to, were such measures not in place. The landscaped grounds are fenced, there are a number of security guards both uniformed and not, and that doesn't include the Evolved who wait in the wings, outside any casual visitor's sight.

The Suresh Center is run by the ReGenesis Foundation, a non-profit organization that was fairly little-known until it erupted onto the scene with this project.

THE SURESH CENTER IS PRESENTLY CLOSED FOR REPAIRS

Inside the Building

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Ground Floor


The lobby of the Suresh Center is an open, very well-lit space; the exterior walls are more window than wall. There's a raised half-level on the right side of the irregularly-shaped room as one walks in, carpeted in pine-green, decked with oak furniture and small table lamps; a comfortable-looking space, with actual living plants at the top of the stairs and scattered here and there elsewise. Continuing to the left brings one to the receptionist's desk, a small vending area located just beyond that.

Passing the receptionist brings a visitor to the core of the building. Here are the Kastin and Chapman auditoria, named for donors who provided the money that built them; rooms designed to seat many people for lectures and presentations, equipped with large projector screens, pervasive sound systems, and video recorders. Four conference rooms fill out the central section, reduced in scale but no less comprehensively outfitted. The wings which branch off to either side contain rows of classrooms: smaller, more private and personal, some with installed technology and some with nothing more elaborate than a whiteboard.

The classrooms, conference rooms, and auditoria are all available for public use; anyone who wants to reserve one may do so for a nominal fee, be it to teach a class, hold a meeting, or present a seminar. There are no restrictions on subject, nor even the credentials of the instructor or lecturer, though the Center waives all liability for courses taught by a third party (which is all of them). These courses and seminars are all by definition open to the public. Donations may be requested, or small fees charged, particularly for courses with a materials cost.

Access

Access to the ground floor is open to the public, however the basement access is prohibited save for authorized personnel assigned by the Suresh Center administration.

Second Floor

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The second floor is an idiosyncratic combination of small medical center and psychiatric hospital. In the back of the building are several lab rooms, equipped with everything from blood-test equipment to an MRI; despite its size, the facility is competitive in a features sense with many larger and more mainstream hospitals. The core is dominated by a multipurpose room, usually serving as a cafeteria but sometimes transformed into a game hall or ad-hoc movie theater; on either side of it are the two permanently-staffed nurse stations, the balcony at the front offering a view of Roosevelt Island and the opportunity for plenty of sunlight.

One wing of this floor has been given over to a medium-term ward, intended to house medical or psychiatric patients for only a few days, perhaps a couple of weeks at most. Most rooms are double-occupancy, particularly for medical patients, but in some cases they may be allocated as singles; all have large exterior windows and are surprisingly not painted in generic institutional shades. Rather, they each have their own personal theme, from ascetic to modern, oceanic blues to autumn reds and browns. Rooms are allocated primarily by what environment a patient feels comfortable in. The opposite wing is the Suresh Center's juvenile ward, designated for the care of Evolved children and teenagers coming to terms with their abilities. It has its own rec room, several single-occupancy rooms, and at the end of the hall a larger shared room for siblings, friends, and children who do better in company. As for the adult ward, the decor is engaging and inviting rather than blandly uniform.

Visitors are required to check in at one of the stations before going anywhere else on this floor, and in some cases may be provided with an escort for the duration of their visit.

Access

Access to the second floor is open to the public, though some offices and laboratories are locked and permissible to entrance by authorized personnel only.

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Third Floor

The third floor of the Suresh Center belongs primarily to its administration. The management, purchasers of supplies, keepers of records, and maintainers of facilities all nest on this level. There are four large rooms in the center, each subdivided into sets of cubicles; offices in either of the building's two wings; meeting rooms just inside the wings and a set of communal rooms at the back. Each wing has its own small lounge, with sink, fridge, microwave, tables, chairs, reading material, potted plants, and plenty of windows. The decor of this floor is less colorfully idiosyncratic than those below, but still escapes institutional blandness; the walls are a warm golden-brown color, the floor carpeted in dark oceanic blue, art pieces and more living potted plants set at irregular but comfortably frequent intervals.

Access

The third floor is open to Suresh Center staff and administration only. The third floor lobby maintains greeting staff and security ensuring that personnel accessing the third floor offices only visit with permission and proper access.

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