Even before the complex was built, the design of The Neurosciences Institute received considerable popular and critical attention. Its architecture has been reported on or reviewed by magazines worldwide.

“This is a magnificent piece of work. The most inspiring new American building I saw all year.” —Herbert Muschamp, The New York Times

“If science is the guiding light of the future, here is it’s grand cathedral. There is a Zen-like serenity that invites contemplation and lowers the blood pressure. This is as good as architecture gets.” “The Neurosciences Institute doubles the number of architectural masterpieces San Diego can claim.” —Ann Jarmusch, The San Diego Union-Tribune

“This exquisitely built building responds to the site, the client, and the unique program of The Neurosciences Institute. Every aspect of the facility has been resolved to create a coherent whole.” –American Institute of Architects panel of judges’ statement.

“It is an essay in detailing, with every surface, texture and light condition thought through. Like the nervous system, it’s all about pathways, links, journeys and most of all experience.”—Time

“A lyrical, poetic building that is a performance within itself. It has a certain melody to it. The complex choreographs people through space.” —Lorenzo Apicella, AIA judge.

“The Institute is clearly Williams and Tsien’s best work to date. Expressive of the intuitive and the intellectual, this remarkable architecture of humanism profits art and science alike.” —Deborah K. Dietsch, Architecture.

Time magazine included The Neurosciences Institute in it’s “Best Design of 1996.” The American Institute of Architects (AIA) awarded the Institute its National Honor Award. The architecture received the Edwin F. Guth Memorial Award of Excellence for Interior Lighting Design from the Illuminating Engineers Society of North America. Regionally, the San Diego AIA Chapter recognized the design as outstanding. In conjunction with San Diego Gas and Electric Company, the Institute received the San Diego AIA Energy Efficiency Integration Award. The Concrete Reinforcing Steel Institute awarded its Design Award; and, the Institute received a prestigious regional “Grand Orchid” Award for outstanding design.