Quantifying the Social Dynamics of Interdisciplinary Research Facilities
An in-depth study analyzing the sociology of collaborative research space was recently launched by Flad & Associates, a global architecture and engineering firm based in Madison, Wis. The study, which Flad started as an internal pilot project two and half years ago, compiles data from 51 North American research and academic facilities into a detailed analysis of how socially interactive design features increase worker productivity.

New Insights Gained in Managing Team Dynamics and Value Engineering
In October 2005, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Woods Hole, Mass., completed the major portion of an extensive $50-million renovation to its 183-acre Quissett campus. The overall project included construction of two new research facilities, two laboratory additions, an addition to the central energy plant, new wastewater treatment facilities for both sanitary and process wastewater from the labs, and widespread upgrades to underground utilities and site landscaping.

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
The Biogeochemistry Building is one of two new buildings on the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution's campus in Woods Hole, Mass. The 33,500-sf interdisciplinary facility provides laboratory space for the departments of biology, marine chemistry, and geochemistry.

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
The Marine Research Facility (MRF) on the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution's campus is the second of two new buildings that are part of a $50-million campus-wide renovation. The MRF, the new Biogeochemistry Building, and additions to McLean Laboratory increase WHOI's lab space by 30 percent.

Facility Itself Serves as a Teaching Tool for Engineering Curriculum
The new Jeong H. Kim Engineering Building at the University of Maryland now serves as the flagship building for the A. James Clark School of Engineering. The impressive facility features three levels of research and instructional labs devoted to an extensive array of technologies, including nanotechnology, microelectronics, high-speed computer systems, sensors and actuators, and bioengineering.

University of Maryland, College Park
The $56-million Jeong H. Kim Engineering Building, the signature facility of the A. James Clark School of Engineering on the University of Maryland's College Park campus, creates a new type of cross-disciplinary engineering research and education environment where major technological challenges will be explored and solved and new generations of engineers will be trained. Housing more than two dozen laboratories and multiple engineering disciplines under one roof, the 155,000-gsf Kim Building brings together faculty, students and visitors from many different perspectives and powerfully demonstrates the Clark School's role as a leading innovator in academic engineering.

Facility Aims to Reduce the Time It Takes to Move Research From Bench to Bedside
In June 2005, the University of Minnesota (U of M) opened its new 96,000-sf McGuire Translational Research Facility (TRF), the school's third major interdisciplinary research building. The new $37-million TRF is the latest example of U of M's commitment to invest in key capital projects designed to help shorten the time it takes for basic science research discoveries to be applied to direct patient care.

University of Minnesota
The opening of the $37-million McGuire Translational Research Facility (TRF) is an example of the University of Minnesota's commitment to invest in key capital projects designed to help shorten the time it takes for basic science research discoveries to be applied to direct patient care.