Lab is pleased to announce that Stephanie has joined the Charlestown Chamber of Commerce. Dedicated to promoting business development, the Chamber promotes a vibrant local business community, providing networking opportunities, sponsoring events and helping to connect businesses with potential partners and the wider community. Committed to working in the city of Boston, Stephanie is looking […]
News & Ideas
Buzzword – on the shared incubator space
Boston – Incubator. Shared work-zones. Open office space. Flexible work environments. These are the buzzwords of the new workplace. One of the top cities for entrepreneurs, Boston is rapidly embracing a fresh paradigm for nurturing new businesses, one that has strong design and social implications…The tech innovation incubator concept has grown to encompass shared lab […]
“More You”: Trends for 2013
“More you” is the catchphrase for the launch of the Windows 8 ad campaign, and it captures a trend that has been strengthening over the last year. The ability to speedily share aspects of our lives with friends and strangers through sites like Facebook, Circles, Pinterest, Twitter and Instagram allows us to define and broadcast an image of ourselves that is intended for public consumption. Our start screen, our playlists and our choice of apps makes a strong and intentional statement about who we are and how we’d like to be perceived. Here are five trends to watch for in the A/E/C industry in 2013.
Mark Reed on the impact of the fiscal cliff in High Profile
In a new essay on the High Profile Monthly blog, Mark Reed discusses how the fiscal cliff impacts the innovation industry in Massachusetts. “More than research is at stake,” he says. Read the blogpost »
More Than Research Is At Stake
The more I read and learn about the looming Fiscal Cliff, the more concerned I get for our local design and construction economy. Two weeks ago, sixteen of the presidents of leading academic institutions in the Boston area co-signed a letter to Representative Ed Markey articulating the grave impact sequestration would have on the research community. While the authors of the letter did not focus on the role of capital projects in a thriving and expansive innovation economy, it is important to understand that much of the resurgence of construction activity going on here now is directly due to that leveraged inflow of federal and private dollars.
Revisiting the Test Fit
Almost exactly one year ago today we wrote an article about test fits for biotechnology. Focusing on how Revit can assist in the analysis of space, our article demonstrated how, through BIM software, we can develop simultaneously plans, three dimensional space and program. Since then, our office has continued to work with clients on multiple such test fits, often recreating their spaces in three or four different locations. Interestingly, this opportunity has allowed us to see how the expression of a company’s vision is transformed through its location, from one property to the next.
Forging Identity
When we began our firm over a year ago, we spent time thinking about how we want to represent ourselves. The development of a clear identity was important for both expressing our uniqueness and solidifying the concept of our company. Likewise, the process of designing for a client is an opportunity to assist in clarifying their own sense of who they are and shape how they are perceived. We have found that many of our clients are looking to us to find this collaboration. As architects, we enjoy the challenge, and two very different projects show how such exploration can drive a design process.
Lab takes home “Best in Show” at SMPS Boston ROC Awards
This summer, Lab’s brand identity was awarded “Best in Show” at the 2012 SMPS Boston Recognizing Outstanding Communications (ROC) Awards for Marketing Communications and Marketing Achievements. The identity package also won first place in it’s category. Read more about the awards program and read an excerpt from the nomination summary.
Chilling Out in the Lab
“Let’s meet in the Chill Center” is a frequent request we hear from one of our Cambridge-based R&D clients. The “Chill Center” is a 1,500sf somewhat nondescript, cafeteria area set in the middle of an open office environment near a lab zone. Furnished only with school cafeteria style tables, a kitchenette and a bank of vending machines (all items sold for 25 cents), the Chill Center is constantly buzzing with activity as scientists and engineers work out issues of R&D, often with unsolicited commentary from adjacent work cubicles. In our experience, it is one of the mostly highly collaborative and productive work environments out there.
Lab completes peer review for University of Sydney’s Australian Institute of Nanoscience
Principal Mark Reed and Professor Charles Marcus recently reviewed the design development drawings for the national center for advanced microscopy, nanofabrication, condensed matter physics, optics and other high performance laboratories. This is the fourth peer review completed in collaboration with the international offices of architects CH2MHill, Architectus, and Jestico|Whiles. Reed and Marcus consult to numerous […]
