One of today’s most active areas of construction lies in tenant improvements to existing buildings. Particularly in the life sciences sector, there is constant churn as companies mature and move into larger spaces to meet their growing space demands. Mark Reed talks with John Matuszewski, a principal at McNamara/Salvia structural engineers, and Andy Coull, president of JM Coull, builders from Maynard, about issues that tenants frequently overlook.
News & Ideas
Mark Reed is interviewed by Tradeline as expert lab planner
Mark Reed was interviewed as a member of a panel of experts forecasting future trends in laboratory planning. Results of the panel’s work will be published in an upcoming Tradeline Exclusive Report.
New renderings for Harvard’s William James Hall
The William James Hall project is the redesign of a floor of professors of psychology, their labs and their shared spaces at Harvard University. See the new renderings and learn more about the project »
Mark Reed on getting the most out of your test fits with BIM in High Profile
“Test-fits are an important part of the early phases of projects and can be used to jump-start stalled deals or to enable reuse of ‘obsolete’ or problematic facilities,” says LAB founding partner Mark Reed in the November issue of High-Profile Monthly. And employing building information modeling (BIM) can shift your test-fits into high gear. Read […]
Measuring Success: on Paul Goldberger’s Article, “Laboratory Conditions”
In Paul Goldberger’s article in the New Yorker, dated September 19, 2011, he concludes with the notion that there is a “lurking irony” in the way scientists have been collaborating with architects in shaping their research space.
Matthew Nock: MacArthur Genius
As lab designers, we often have the chance to work with remarkable scientists. So we were thrilled, but not surprised, that one of our current clients, Prof. Matthew Nock from Harvard University’s Psychology Department, was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship (aka the “Genius Grant”) in September.
Expect More From Test-Fits
In our practice, we’ve seen a healthy demand for test-fitting laboratory designs into new and existing buildings. In this article, we will describe how our use of BIM allows for powerful graphics and extractable information to benefit landlords, tenants, institutions and builders alike in unexpected and exciting ways.
Drawing and Modeling
Drawings are the dominant means of communicating design in architecture. Individual drawings tell different parts of the story and traditionally each had to be drawn separately. In recent years the notion of drawing, and what it can communicate, has changed.
Mario Loiacono 1947-2011
One of our industry’s greatest mechanical engineers, Mario Loiacono, passed away last week. To all who knew him, Mario was recognized as a great and loyal friend, a bottomless source of insight and knowledge, a mentor, a collaborator, and a wonderful person.
Time-Detail-Design.
While in India this past February, I made a visit to the Jantar Mantar in Jaipur. Conceived as the embodiment of astronomical instrumentation, the Jantar Mantar is a series of building-sized measuring devices set in a park. The structures are a wonderful example of the intertwining of design and function.
