  We present a new design for a stirred tank that is forced by two parallel
planar arrays of randomly actuated synthetic jets. This arrangement creates
turbulence at high Reynolds number with low mean flow. Most importantly, it
exhibits a region of 3D homogeneous isotropic turbulence that is significantly
larger than the integral lengthscale. These features are essential for enabling
laboratory measurements of turbulent suspensions. We use quantitative imaging
to confirm isotropy at large, small, and intermediate scales by examining one--
and two--point statistics at the tank center. We then repeat these same
measurements to confirm that the values measured at the tank center are
constant over a large homogeneous region. In the direction normal to the
symmetry plane, our measurements demonstrate that the homogeneous region
extends for at least twice the integral length scale $L=9.5$ cm. In the
directions parallel to the symmetry plane, the region is at least four times
the integral lengthscale, and the extent in this direction is limited only by
the size of the tank. Within the homogeneous isotropic region, we measure a
turbulent kinetic energy of $6.07 \times 10^{-4} $m$^2$s$^{-2}$, a dissipation
rate of $4.65 \times 10^{-5} $m$^2$s$^{-3}$, and a Taylor--scale Reynolds
number of $R_\lambda=334$. The tank's large homogeneous region, combined with
its high Reynolds number and its very low mean flow, provides the best
approximation of homogeneous isotropic turbulence realized in a laboratory flow
to date. These characteristics make the stirred tank an optimal facility for
studying the fundamental dynamics of turbulence and turbulent suspensions.
