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Eddy likens the feeling of connectivity from the open spaces and glass walls of Janelia’s landscape building to being at home. “You might think it’s a Big Brother intrusive thing, but it’s not like that,” he says, sitting at his desk and waving through a glass wall to lab members on their way to a ping-pong break. “It’s like being in a house with your family: You know where everyone is even though they’re off in different rooms.”
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Specially designed bollards enable lab benches to easily take on different functions.
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The social engineering aspects of the design plan have already made a difference for Rex Kerr, a fellow who just moved to Janelia from the Salk Institute in September. Kerr aims to develop imaging methods to look at neural activity in the worm model Caenorhabditis elegans. “Even though I’m still sort of half-camping in my lab, I’ve already had interesting conversations with [group leaders] Eric Betzig and Gene Myers. They build microscopes and tools to do analysis and I have a cool problem to work on, so it makes for a very good interaction.” Kerr is anxious to begin work and expects to have his worm colony established and his microscopes and other equipment fully in place within six months.
McGhee says the major challenge at Janelia Farm was anticipating what scientists would need five years in advance. “Because we didn’t know what the scientific questions to be asked at Janelia would be, we gave the building a lot of flexibility to move from one function to another, without great cost or loss of time because of construction,” he says.
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Beyond the main entrances circular driveway are 96 guest rooms.
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In the laboratories, for example, McGhee felt strongly that the ceilings had to be kept free of shelving, wiring, and piping. Instead, these services are brought up from the floor via stainless steel bollards. Shelves, tables, and drawers back up the bollards and can be removed with a minimum of fuss. “We wanted the labs to have other lives to them than strictly biochemistry,” says McGhee. “You can move the benchwork and change a lab in just hours.”
The extra large “back of house” support space sets Janelia apart as well. Many of the things that usually cramp a scientist’s lab area—fume hoods, freezers, and centrifuges, for example—have their own space near the lab but out of the way. “As we bring scientists on, we determine how that back of house space will be used,” says McGhee.
Photos: Paul Fetters
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