The Emory Wheel
Emory Life
Wednesday, November 15, 2017 | Emory Life Editor: Niraj Naik (niraj.naik@emory.edu)
FILMING
SPOTLIGHT
‘Stranger Things’ in Familiar Places From Teen Hacker to
Devoted Academic
By Monica Lefton Senior Staff Writer
Blocks away from the monotonous hum of construction work, white marble and glass bridges lies a part of Emory University’s campus that hasn’t been updated since the late 1990s, and probably won’t change anytime soon. Even though Emory has now designated the older buildings as storage space, they’ve most recently served as the site of the 1980s-era Hawkins National Laboratory in Hawkins, Ind., for Netflix’s beloved original series “Stranger Things.” A five-minute drive down North Decatur Road or a 15-minute shuttle ride on the B route brings you to Briarcliff Campus, marked by a tall black building known as Building A. Briefly a space for displaced faculty offices and old desks, Building A is now most recognized as the home of the Upside Down in “Stranger Things.” Though now known as a film location, Building A boasts a history as scattered and peculiar as the sets it holds. Once a state-owned and operated mental health institute, the building hasn’t changed much since its construction in the 1960s. Its medical interior, once used to treat patients and conduct mental health research, is now home to movie and television sets. William M. Dracos, Emory University managing director and chief business practice improvement officer, said that the site appeals to film producers because of its 20th century architecture. “The attraction of the Briarcliff [A] Building is that it is truly a period piece,” Dracos said. “It had a certain visual effect [as] an institution research facility or governmental institution.” Most recently, “Stranger Things” filmed scenes for both seasons at the Briarcliff A Building, creating Hawkins National Laboratory from the iconic black exterior and clinical interior. The University bought Briarcliff Campus as part of a 42-acre, $2.9 million acquisition along Briarcliff Road in 1997. This decision went against the University’s land acquisition policy, which prohibited the purchase of land that was south of North Decatur Road or noncontiguous with current University property. The sale included the buildings of Briarcliff Campus and Briarcliff Mansion, according to University Historian Gary Hauk. Asa Candler Jr., son of Coca-Cola founder Asa Candler, originally owned the land. Candler Jr. built Briarcliff Mansion in 1922 and lived on the estate until 1948, when he sold the land to the state of Georgia. After acquiring the land, the state government built a mental health treatment center with housing for private patients in what now is the Briarcliff Building A and the smaller red brick cottages in the surrounding area, respectively. The mansion was turned over from the state to DeKalb County in the 1960s and functioned as a drug and alcohol addiction treatment center. In the mid-1990s, due to funding shifts in mental health facilities, the state looked to sell off the land, eventually selling it to Emory. The University planned to trans-
Ymir Vigfusson Brings Coding to the Classroom By Varun Gupta Staff Writer
Forest Morton/Contributing
Purchased in 1997, Briarcliff Building A serves as Hawkins National Laboratory in the Netflix drama “Stranger Things.” form the campus into a biotechnology incubation center in partnership with the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). In first steps of this partnership, the University briefly moved contained Emory laboratories to the site, but no significant research was conducted. University staff soon realized the dated features and general wear and tear of the buildings on Briarcliff campus made research and laboratory work difficult and expensive. They chose to use the space as extra storage instead.
“The attraction of the Briarcliff [A] Building is that it is truly a period piece.” — William M. Dracos Emory University managing director and chief business practice improvement officer “By [the late 1990s], the cottages that had been used for the housing the residential patients were not in very good shape,” Hauk said. “They really were not fit for use as offices or general use by people who would be in there for long term. Parts of [the tall building] were still in fairly good shape, [and] used that for what they called swing space.” Swing space is space designated for departmental overflow, faculty and groups that couldn’t find space on the main campus or were facing renovation of their current buildings. The Briarcliff Campus once held Emory’s Emeritus College, the Jane Fonda Center and the Center for Myth and Ritual in American Life. But after no more than 10 years of service Building A soon became unusable too, needing costly updates to its air conditioning and heating system, and treatment of some developing mold and cockroach infestations. Today, some parts are still used as extra storage space, for items such as desks, chairs and lamps. Even without hosting University programming, the building found purpose in its dated, medical look and soon attracted film site managers and location scouts. “It turned out it was a really cool place for film companies, and a lot of people were attracted by its adaptability,” Hauk said. “It does have a clinical
look to parts of the building, and so it was easy to transform certain hallways or rooms into what looked like hospital or a doctor’s office. [It] also became an interesting place for creepy kinds of scenes, and people who have been down in the basement of that tall building always remark on the eeriness of the scene there.” Fans of “Stranger Things” might want to visit the building in person, but access to the land is off limits to anyone besides film companies renting the space and Emory personnel. “Briarcliff Campus is not open to the public, as the buildings are old and hazards exist,” Dracos emphasized. “Individuals should not attempt tourism on the Briarcliff campus for their own safety.” Georgia is now considered a filming capital, the third largest in the world after Los Angeles and New York City, with a high concentration of that work in Atlanta, and Emory’s Briarcliff Campus is only one part of Emory’s involvement in Atlanta’s growing film industry. The University has been a hotbed for film projects, big and small, over the past few years. After a request from the Georgia Film Music and Digital Entertainment Office in 2013 that the campus cooperate with production and filming whenever possible, Emory started to take on more frequent and higher-profile projects. “We’re happy to work with the film industry,” Dracos said. “We think it’s a great element to our state, so we’re happy to be a partner.” “Hidden Figures” also used the Briarcliff Building A to create Kevin Costner’s 1960s research office and lab. “Gifted” and “Denial” were filmed on Emory’s Atlanta campus in the past few years. “Vampire Diaries” was filmed at Emory’s Oxford Campus. Smaller projects, including television shows, commercials and independent films, also rent out spaces across Emory’s campus. The University cannot disclose information regarding current productions on campus. Without a script, there is no confirmation that season three of Stranger Things will film at Briarcliff, but Building A, and Emory University, will forever be a piece of Hawkins, Ind. Just remember, don’t go looking for the Upside Down — firstly, because the area is restricted and secondly, because you probably can’t fight off a demogorgon.
— Contact Monica Lefton at monica.lefton@emory.edu
how to do it in a safe, ethical and legal way,” Jones said. Through his wife and visiting assistant professor, Rebecca Mitchell, Vigfusson was introduced to the possibilities of blending public policy and computer science. Since then, Nishant Kishore (16PH) approached Vigfusson to conduct research and create a program that predicts epidemics by coupling largescale cell phone metadata from Iceland with information about the onset of swine flu in 2009.
For teenaged Ymir Vigfusson, hacking into company servers was like playing Pac-Man at an arcade. It was a game, one that appeared to be isolated from any real consequences, said Vigfusson, who is now an assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science. At the age of 15, Vigfusson and a few friends accidentally damaged a server at Islandia, an Internet provider in Iceland, and consequently reported his Ymir misdoing to the company. Vigfusson, “I remember the sinking feeling of, Assistant ‘Oh my god, what is going to happen Professor right now?’” Vigfusson said. “If we get reported to the police ... that will be the end of it.” Iceland at the time did not have a legal framework to punish hackers, P M /P e said Vigfusson. And fortunately for “The point of the experiment is to Vigfusson and his friends, Islandia offered them full-time positions for leverage these massive data sets that finding a vulnerability in the code. exist out there,” Kishore said. “It’s rare Though they were let off the hook, to link health details to call records. Vigfusson said that the experience That is novel.” This year, a team of three Emory served as a wake-up call. “I feel like I have the responsibility faculty members, including Vigfusson, to catch kid hackers who are in the were provided a $380,000 grant award same shoes. They are young, they have from the Centers for Disease Control nobody to guide them, they are just and Prevention (CDC) to detect and playing around and [don’t] really real- respond to threats from drug-resistant ize the boundary of what is right and pathogens. According to a University Oct. 25 wrong,” Vigfusson said. “I try to guide them to do something constructive press release, the researchers have developed a fully-functional algowith their skills.” An Iceland native, Vigfusson rithm that identifies multiple strains received a Ph.D. in computer science and clones of malaria and can trace from Cornell University (N.Y.) in 2010. the sources of the E. coli outbreak by analyzing drops of Since then, he has coblood in fecal matter. founded an informaVigfusson said that tion security company “If you can teach their solution provides called Syndis, taught people how things a window into cheapcomputer security courses at Emory and break, they can learn er and more reliable researched the spread how to fix things, and medical interventions compared to deep of epidemics. it’s much more fun.” genome sequencing. At Emor y, Before coming to Vigfusson teaches — Ymir Vigfusson, the United States, “Computer Security,” a Assistant professor Vigfusson hoped to course that focuses on start a business that advanced vulnerabilities, exploits and defense technologies. would enable people to see the ‘blind In his course “Computer Security,” spots’ within an organization. At Vigfusson said he encourages his stu- Syndis, Vigfusson helps teach comdents to go on the offensive through panies how to identify risks and vulbreaking into a restricted system. nerabilities in their source code and According to Andrew Jones (18C), his simulate real-world attacks to appraise task is to enter commands in a comput- the quality of a programming departer program that will take full control ment’s response. His work has allowed him to return of a remote mini-computer, designed to what seemed to be a simple, fun by Vigfusson. “I teach people how things break. If game for his 15-year-old self: hacking. you can teach people how things break, But unlike his past self, he now hopes they can learn how to fix things, and to work within the system and prepare it’s much more fun,” Vigfusson said. “ I corporations for the unexpected. “The knowledge of how to break feel like in some sense I can teach them [to work with the system] responsibly.” stuff allows you to create it better,” While Vigfusson likens homework Vigfusson said. “What if someone is assignments to a game of capture the malicious or what if something fails? flag, he said that any hacking must be That’s the mindset that needs to done under a legal and ethical frame- change for computer science to become more robust.” work in mind. “[Vigfusson] is so invested in doing this because he wants to help people — Contact Varun Gupta at who are interested in hacking learn varun.gupta@emory.edu arth
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