We live in an amazingly connected world; a world where our ability to share ideas which will someday create great things far exceeds the wildest dreams of even the most creative minds of the previous generation.  A world that has been flattened by the internet has been connected by international travel and has been politically stable enough to build international relationships.  However, given the crisis mentality that seems to have gripped us and the profound and continuous change that this connectivity breeds you might be wondering if it is a good thing. 

You fear the internet might send your job to some far-away place.  You worry about the cost of filling your gas tank more than buying an international airline ticket.  You hear about the threats of terror somewhat regularly.  This constant connectivity can cause us to lose perspective and take a negative outlook about the state of the world in which we live.  Every now and then we have an experience that sharpens our perspective and reminds us of the great opportunities that exist in modern society. 

I recently read a fascinating book by Mandit Kumar:  Quantum: Einstein, Bohr, and the Great Debate about the Nature of Reality.  This is a book about the dawn of theoretical physics and the beginning of the atomic age.  It includes a twelve page timeline that starts in 1858 with the birth of Max Planck and ends in 2007 with the current puzzle of how pairs of non-local photons can behave predictably over long distances.  You might wonder what it could possibly have to do with politics, international collaboration and the building of relationships. 

The main plot of the story was not the part of the book that sharpened my perspective.  The fascinating sub-plot of the book that should be of interest to anybody trying to solve a problem that requires teamwork, was the story of the relationships between the dozen characters that led the focus of scientific discovery.  Nine pages of this twelve page saga occurred between 1900 and 1945.  If you take the time to plough through the subject matter you will realize that the incredible advances chronicled in this relatively short period of time would have not been possible to unlock by one person.  Even a person with the legendary intellect of Albert Einstein cannot succeed without the constant challenge and prodding of ideas from his peers.  As you begin to understand how long-standing relationships, respect and social engagement between this diverse group of scientists, you see the engine that propelled discovery and understand the necessity and the value of teamwork. 

Compare the collaboration tools, access to travel and the social and political state of the world between 1900 and 1945 to what we have today.  If you think we live in difficult times consider the following:

·         Forget the internet they wrote letters and had them delivered days or weeks later by steam ship

·         Commercial air travel was not available so if they met for a conference it took a real commitment of time.

·         These events took place during two world wars and the protagonists of the story were on different political and social sides of the conflicts.

With all the advantages we have today I suggest the next time you feel inclined to find an excuse about why you can’t collaborate with a colleague to solve a problem you might want to get a little perspective, role up your sleeves and get busy.  

In a world focused on action and results here are three questions that you might want to consider every day:

1.    If I hit a dead end when trying to solve a problem, what do I do?  Have you built a support network of trusted collaborators that can help you break-through?

2.    What keeps me from opening up to the insights of others?

3.    What risk did I take yesterday?  What risk will I take tomorrow?

Tags: Behavior, Collaboration, Generations, Inspiration, Strategy
Posted in Agility, Design, Futuristic, Generations, Innovative, People, Technology, Technology/Innovation, Trends

This article, presents a pretty good argument in favor of not allowing gas in a BSC. Many companies utilize gas in the BSC (Biological Safety Cabinet) to sterilize their loops. As consultants we need to bring these potential issues up to our clients when discussing how they will be using the BSC.

• The flame creates turbulence in the laminar flow of air minimizing product protection.
• Heat could melt HEPA filter bonding agents which destroys the filters effectiveness and loss of containment.
• If flame goes out gas will be distributed into the space possibly reaching explosive limits. ( use of an class II -A2 70% recirculation)
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Tags: Advice, Labs, LinkedIn, Safety
Posted in Lab Planning, People, Science, Technology

I’m seeing increasing evidence that skilled labor and the people who produce it are growing in value to business owners. So even in an economy with a nearly 10% unemployment rate, why are these key employees in short supply?  The answer is simple, it’s because our idea that the value of labor is rooted in an industrial revolution era concept of the assembly line.  We tend to view all labor as a mindless task reserved to those who don’t have the mental capacity to do something else.  In a six sigma, just-in-time manufacturing world, labor has become anything but a mindless task.  We are increasing the need for both thinking and doing.  I predict that this phenomenon will eventually change our mindset about higher education. To advance in the new economy, we’ll need intelligent workers who can make informed decisions in the manufacturing process and the employers who are willing to pay a premium to get workers that can both think and do.

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Tags: Behavior, Generations, Leadership, Millenials
Posted in Generations, People, Services, Trends, Workplace

I recently had the pleasure of attending a two day Lessons Learned Workshop at NIH related to Biomedical Research Facilities that have been built in the last several years. In today’s complex world we architects are trying, harder than ever it seems, to meet the needs of our client with each project, but today, our clients seem to have many voices. The beauty of this conference was that all of the competing voices were in one place and had a chance to express their perspective in an educational setting. In the project world it can be an extremely delicate balancing act to place the proper emphasis on the right voice.

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Tags: Advice, Behavior, Biocontainment, Change, Collaboration, Labs, Leadership, Learning, NIH, pain, Programming, Research, Safety, Strategy
Posted in Agility, Architecture, Change Management, Design, Generations, Innovative, Lab Planning, People, Science

While doing research for a presentation entitled “Learning Spaces for the Future”, I came across the e-Book “Learning Spaces”, published through Educause. The book came up recently in conversation and I was reminded of what a great source of information it is. The book is organized into two parts; part one, “Principles and Practices”, contains a series of articles on learning space design. Part two contains case studies where innovative approaches were taken to create highly successful learning environments. “Learning Spaces” is a truly inspirational resource for taking alternative approaches to traditional classroom design.

The link is as follows: http://www.educause.edu/LearningSpaces

Tags: Books, Learning, students
Posted in Architecture, Classrooms, Futuristic, Higher Education, People

Those of you that are cynical about what the future holds for this country most likely have a very different view than I.  You see I’m a 3^rd generation member of the melting pot that makes this place great.  My grandfather Carmen Moronti came to the US in the late 1930’s in search of “streets paved with gold” with nothing but the shirt on his back.  He found the American dream and passed it on.  I plan to do the same. 

My Aunt just returned from our ancestral home on the Adriatic Coast of Italy and brought back these photographs of the home and town where my grandfather was born.  She tells me that his mother, also pictured here, kept his room for many years, but he was never to return.

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Posted in People

In the middle of 2010, Keith Perske posted a compelling blog challenging the design field to think about work without our typical reliance on thinking about place.  I say, “AMEN”.

As an architect deeply concerned about the nature of work, I see places continually being created that are disconnected from the reality of what it now means to be “people” at work.  We have limited our thinking of “place” to the physical, and have not touched on the emotional, psychological, and inter-relationship that drive people to produce results in the context of their work.  Place is a subset of work, along with the parameters of technology, process, brand, economics, etc.  In combination, these parameters create demands of place that are simultaneously physical and virtual, but equal in social dynamics.

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Tags: Behavior, Change, Experience
Posted in Agility, Architecture, Mobility, People, Workplace

We architects often have difficulty communicating with non-architects.  We seemed to have developed a language that only works among ourselves.  If we’d just let the rest of you in on the game I think we’d produce much better results.  I was recently in a meeting half-way around the world in Dhaka, Bangladesh where this idea was underscored for me.

This was a conference room full of engineers and business people, or so I thought.  The meeting was being conducted in English, but it was not the natural language for most of the people in the room.  I had become very animated in describing the (5) essential elements of the Parti (architecture speak for “the big idea”) when one person, who had previously been fairly quiet, stepped forward and made it clear he wanted to debate.  The very next thing he did was turn to the rest of the room and said:  “you guys just won’t understand”.  He proceeded to quiz me on the validity of my argument about the relationship of the essential elements of the plan in a manner that I could easily understand, but didn’t make a lot of sense to the rest of the room.  It turns out this guy was a construction manager educated in an American school of architecture.

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Posted in Architecture, People

I’ve spent the last 25 years of my life pursuing and designing laboratory projects near and far and honestly believe that I’ve reached the point in my career where I have a deep enough understanding of how they work to design them in such a way as to improve the results my clients achieve in the spaces I design. If I see a project that allows my team to apply and/or expand the expertise we’ve built I will most often pursue it aggressively.  During this same time period, just like you, I’ve had a unique set of life experiences which provide me the motivation to continue what’s become my life’s work.  I really love what I do which sometimes leads me to the false assumption that I can be successful with any project when I’ve got the right motivation.  I’ve recently had to pass on a project where my life experience said “go”, but my professional expertise said “no”.  I think I learned a lesson in the process.

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Posted in People

Q: How do we define Social Dynamics?

Thoughts: Social dynamics is the ability of a group of people, be it a society, a culture, an organization, a family or a team (at work), to successfully adapt to the nature of change in their system of function, purpose and governance.

What is very clear in the study of work is that the nature of performing work today has less “independence” in the activities leading to business results than in the past.  People need other people to complete their work, either from the standpoint of transactional work or creative thinking work.  The task delivery process of work (make this widget or fill this order) has been rebalanced with creative problem solving work process (solve this unique problem or create this unique solution).  Isn’t it telling that two of the most common work behaviors used to define work today are ‘collaboration’ and ‘innovation’?  Innovation can be, and is often, achieved by an individual working alone.  However, with the pace of change and the demands for results, innovation can be increased when exemplified within the social dynamics of a TEAM at work.  Collaboration and innovation involve superior levels of social dynamics, accentuating the need of a group of people to respond successfully to the nature of change to solve problems and create solutions.

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Tags: people, quality, work process
Posted in People, Workplace