Every day, soft morning light washes across Louis Kahn’s concrete walls as the Pacific fog lifts over the courtyard. From above, the campus appears still, its laboratories quiet beneath the steady rhythm of the River of Life water feature flowing toward the horizon. But beneath that calm exterior, the Institute is already awake. At Salk, discovery never truly stops. Neither do the systems nor the people that sustain it. Air-handling systems circulate air through laboratories with microscopic precision. Chilled water moves through underground infrastructure. Engineers monitor temperatures critical to sensitive experiments. And the overnight watch teams and custodians complete their final rounds before researchers begin arriving for the day. Tim Ball, executive director of Facilities Services and Operations, describes Salk as a living organism. “Power. Water,” Ball says. “That’s the life of the Institute.” The Central Plant and the central meaning Ball wasn’t actively looking for a new job when he was recruited to Salk nearly 18 years ago. At the time, he was working in Long Beach, commuting from Oceanside, and raising his young son. A former colleague encouraged him to consider the opportunity. Before arriving at Salk, Ball had spent years working in higher education facilities operations, developing…