James E. Talmage Building
Built in 1971
The James E. Talmage Building houses math sciences, statistics, computer science, and computer animation departments. It was the first building on campus to be built with an earthquake-resistant design. It has more steel reinforcement and more lateral bracing so the building is more rigid and stands straight longer, thereby resisting lateral force better. No masonry can be added or mounted at the top of the building. The university has been diligent in its compliance with earthquake resistant construction regulations in order to provide a safer environment for the BYU community. Many of the University’s large computer systems run from this building, providing computer networked programs and storage space for faculty and students (especially from the life and math science departments) to use any time: day or night. This supercomputer holds 2000-3000 terabytes of storage. BYU is one of two universities in Utah to have such powerful computers on campus.
This building has a statue of Po the Panda from the Dreamworks Film Kung Fu Panda. Po was designed by a former BYU student, Jason Turner. BYU’s computer animation students are heavily recruited from Disney, Pixar, and other major motion picture studios.