Latest Reports

The new Vicki Sara Building on the urban campus of the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia, includes a massive “Super Lab”—a single open floor plate of more than 8,600 sf that serves 220 students in any configuration up to a maximum of 12 separate classes simultaneously. From 2,500 to 3,000 students, over several sessions a day, pass through the lab each week. Powered by IT integration, the Sydney facility serves students studying chemistry, biology, cell biology/biochemistry, physics, physiology, and pharmacy compounding.

Other building features include:

Whether personal or professional, change evokes an emotional response. Workplace change initiatives, especially those relating to space, nudge (or jolt) employees out of their comfort zones and typically entail some modification in routine and behavior. Relationships change, as well, and questions arise about how to continue performing at a high level in the new environment. The fastest, most productive change strategies take these human dimensions into account.  

Signing the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment pledge is one thing, but complying with it is quite another. At the University of Pennsylvania, compliance meant renovating the HVAC systems in a 140,000-gsf chemistry research and teaching facility built in 1973. Converting the building’s constant-volume ventilation system, which provided 22 air changes per hour (ACH) 24 hours a day, to a variable-volume system providing 4 to 12 ACH would yield massive energy savings. The catch? Doing it without kicking anyone out.

At the inception of a new interdisciplinary science building, bricks-and-mortar considerations must take a back seat to a big-picture view of issues related to organization, funding, governance, and the long-range vision of the institution. The resolution of these issues early on leads to projects that are more successful—not necessarily in terms of cost savings, but in the essential criterion of aligning a new facility with specific academic strengths and the broader institutional mission.

Eastman’s new corporate business center models collaborative design in process and form. The 296,000-sf facility, located at the corporate headquarters in Kingsport, Tenn., houses more than 100 shared meeting spaces, with state-of-the art technology, revised workspace designs, and several areas where employees can greet visitors or work away from their desks.