Virtual Tour of the OLCF

The NCCS and OLCF have opened the doors to part of the facility with a virtual tour. Created with imaging platform Matterport, the tour’s immersive 3D rendering of Summit’s computer center allows online visitors to explore the facility. “Walking” from the operations control room to the energy plant to the data center reveals more than 15,000 square feet in Building 5600 with an unprecedented amount of detail. Every room (and even hallways) on the tour are annotated with informative pop-ups that tell the stories of one of the nation’s leading supercomputing centers.

Take the virtual tour here: High-Performance Computing at ORNL: the National Center for Computational Sciences and the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility

Visting

Note: Due to Covid-19, all in-person visits to ORNL and the OLCF are suspended until further notice.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF) welcome visitors to the Laboratory. It is very important, if you are not a DOE or DOE contractor employee, to arrange your visit to ORNL and the OLCF ahead of time.  If you’re not sure how to arrange your visit, contact your OLCF host or the ORNL Visitor Services (ORNLvisit@ornl.gov, 865.574.7199).

If you are planning a visit to ORNL and the OLCF, your host will arrange for you to proceed past entrance stations on Bethel Valley Road leading to the Laboratory’s Visitor Center. Please be aware that effective March 30, 2015 ORNL became fully compliant with the REAL ID Act.  This Act requires that anyone accessing a Federal Facility, which ORNL is, must present a compliant form of identification. If you are from one of the noncompliant states, you will need to provide another form of approved identification. Here is a list of acceptable identification if you are from one of these states. If you are from a non-compliant state and you do not have another form of compliant identification, ORNL will allow you to access the site, but you will be required to be escorted during your visit.

Foreign national visitors must always present a Visa and Passport upon arrival at the ORNL Visitor Center.

For more information, see the following pages:

Visitor Information 
Interactive Map of ORNL
Campus Maps 
Airport Information 
Driving Directions 
About the Region 

In-Person Tours

Note: Due to Covid-19, all tours are suspended until further notice.

Visitors to ORNL can requests a tour of the OLCF. The facility hosts on average 300 tours each year, giving members of Congress and other government officials, foreign guests, visiting researchers, and student and community groups an opportunity to observe the center’s world-class facilities in action.

Some notes on tours:

  • Hosted tours of our facility take place at the Titan overlook, across from C101 in building 5600. This space is designed to accommodate groups and gives visitors a chance to hear about all of our computing resource while viewing the Titan supercomputer. After the overview from our tour host, visitors will have the option to walk down the C corridor to the Summit overlook (we ask groups to be quiet in this working office area). The Summit overlook area is for viewing only and does not accommodate tour groups with a host, as it is an active working pathway for staff.
  • OLCF tours last from 15 to 30 minutes, depending on the group’s interest and schedule. Groups have the option to walk down to the Summit overlook and view the Summit system after the host is done at the Titan overlook.
  • We can accommodate tour groups of 25 people or less. If your group is bigger than 25, we ask that you split the team in half. Half of the group can wait on Main St. for the host to finish or they can walk down to view Summit.
  • Photography is allowed at both the Titan and Summit overlooks.
  • Advanced registration is required. Other restrictions apply as well.

For more information about visiting ORNL and taking part in a public tour, contact community@ornl.gov.

For specific information about OLCF tours, please send an email to Cara Kennedy at NCCS-Tours@ornl.gov.