How To Win a Lab of the Year Award
Welcome to the 2007 Laboratory of the Year (LOY) competition,
sponsored by R&D Magazine and SEFA, the Scientific
Equipment and Furniture Association. This year we celebrate
our 41st year of competition and with that, are looking forward
to learning about these projects. Over the years, many potential
entrants have based their decisions on unwritten common wisdom
about the competition and how to win it. The following insider
tips may provide a more accurate and complete understanding
of what makes a project stand out, and how to prepare an entry
that has a better chance of winning.
Judges
LOY judges consist of a mix of experienced people from the
fields of R&D programming, planning, design, construction, and engineering.
The panel also includes representatives from the "user" side--people
who work in labs every day--and several knowledgeable people from the
furniture/equipment vendor community. The editors of R&D Magazine and
Laboratory Design newsletter also serve on the panel. In all, the panel
typically includes about a dozen "outside" judges and about four staff editors.
We make every effort to create a panel that includes fresh viewpoints as well
as some old hands every year. Panelists with potential conflicts of interest
(those who have had involvement in the submitted projects) are asked to exclude
themselves.
Submitted entries are mailed to judges so they have
an opportunity to evaluate all projects before judging
day. On the appointed date, usually in mid
February, judges meet at the R&D editorial offices
to review the entries, view all submitted slides, and
make their decisions in an open and freewheeling
format. Award decisions are made by majority vote.
Categories
Projects are eligible to win in a number of categories:
Laboratory of the Year (the top award for new buildings), Renovated Laboratory
of the Year (the top award for renovations/additions), High Honors (projects of
excellent quality that just miss LOY status), and Special Mention (projects
deserving recognition for some specific quality or feature). Judges may elect to
withhold any of these awards, including LOY and Renovated LOY. They can also
choose to give multiple awards in the High Honors or Special Mention categories.
Judging criteria
Winning projects must be places where the research
performed is enhanced by the surroundings, where the tenants work in a safe and
productive environment, where walking into the facility is an uplifting
experience, and where the facility enhances the client's ability to recruit top
researchers.
Specific criteria that judges are directed to consider include siting;
planning; traffic flow; flow of materials; plant operation; aesthetics; working
conditions; suitability for type of research performed; lab design; office
design/location; furnishings; animal care facilities (if applicable); library
and study facilities; conference and meeting facilities; opportunities for
collaboration and idea exchange; energy efficiency; cost to build; and cost to
operate. Criteria are not ranked or weighted in any specific order, but a major
weakness in a particular criterion may disqualify an entry from being considered
for a top award.
Criteria considered essential, without which an entry cannot be considered
for any type of award, include safety for lab and office personnel, hazard
control, access for people with disabilities, and humane treatment of live
research subjects.
General-purpose instrumentation and equipment are usually not considered as
essential components of a design since similar devices might be installed in any
lab. However, labs that make special provisions for efficient, safe, and
creative use of application-specific equipment may be recognized for these
efforts.
Buildings that are mainly administrative spaces for research-oriented
companies, but do not contain a significant amount of space devoted to actual
research, are not suitable candidates for awards.
What makes a top award winner
Projects that win the top awards (LOY,
Renovated LOY) are architecturally distinguished facilities whose overall design
quality is recognized by the judges. They need not be massive or costly, but
they must represent the highest quality of design. High Honors and Special
Mention winners do not always require the same degree of architectural
distinction. In particular, some past Special Mention winners have been quite
small facilities (one was a mobile lab in a trailer) that do a particular job
extremely well.
New or innovative features that may impact the design of future labs have
been important points in deciding past LOY winners. Examples discussed in
previous LOY judging sessions include the integration of interstitial spaces,
split benches, and interactive areas.
Appropriate clients
Award-winning projects are the subject of a good
deal of publicity, including articles in R&D Magazine, Laboratory
Design newsletter, and, often, other Reed Business Information publications. Winners are publicly
recognized at an annual awards ceremony at the Pittsburgh Conference in February.
Submitted projects that do not win awards but have interesting or meritorious
features are sometimes profiled in case histories in Lab Design newsletter or in
other related building magazines owned by our parent company, Reed
Business Information.
Thus buildings whose owners are unwilling or unable to provide significant
details about their facilities are not generally appropriate candidates for the
competition. If the project is in a non-English-speaking country, an
English-speaking liaison must be available for questions and possible
interviews.
The entry package
Entries come in varied degrees of sophistication,
from flashy to basic. A costly entry that mimics a coffee-table book will not
win extra points for a facility that doesn't make the grade. A minimalist entry
can be quite sufficient as long as it allows the building's quality to shine
through. For instance, one recent entry for a winning High Honors project
consisted of a set of black-and white, photocopied sheets held together with a
binder clip, plus excellent photos and slides.
On the other hand, an incomplete entry or one that fails to tell the
building's story adequately may eliminate a project from consideration, even if
the building itself is of high quality. Judges rarely have the opportunity to
tour candidate facilities; so the entry is their only evaluation tool.
Regardless of how the entry is "packaged," submitters who use the
following tips can give their projects the best possible chance of winning an
award:
1. Be complete. Read and follow the instructions
carefully. Six complete copies of the entry materials are required, plus one
full set of at least 25 (but no more than 35) slides, plus the required entry
form and $200 fee. All requested vendor information must be included on the
entry form. Slides must be clearly keyed to an accompanying sheet of captions.
Hard-copy photos are important additions to the entry, since the judges do not
get to view the slides until judging day.
2. Tell the story. Judges are busy people. An executive summary of the most
significant aspects of the project will be much appreciated. What were the
owner's objectives, and how does the building meet them? What makes the
building worthy of attention? Judges also appreciate a statistics page
summarizing the building's size in square meters (gross/net), space breakdowns
within the facility (percentage of labs, offices, etc.), and costs (preferably
with category breakdowns for design, prep, construction, equipment, etc.).
Make sure that all key players (architects, planners, contractors, significant
subcontractors) are mentioned. If more than one architecture/planning firm is
involved, take pains to clarify who did what.
3. Make artwork work for you. Photos and plans can make or break an entry.
Slides and any other photos used should be sharp and well-exposed. The
research areas must be well-represented; don't use your entire slide quota on
exteriors, offices, common spaces, or instrumentation. Photos with people in
them are welcomed, but do not send photos showing people doing unsafe things
in labs (for instance, people without safety goggles posed at equipment where
goggles would clearly be needed).
Include graphics showing the building's organization in the form of floor
plans (hard copies and/or slides, not blueprints). Elevation and section
drawings are often helpful but are not required. Entries involving renovations
or additions must clearly show "before" and "after"
aspects of the building's layout.
If you project wins an award, submitted photos will ultimately be used for
both editorial and promotional purposes, in print and online. Make sure to
secure broad reproduction rights with professional photographers; a release
form is a required part of the entry package. (R&D and its affiliated
publications cannot pay for reproduction of these photos, but will gladly
provide photo credits.)
4. Highlight the high points. If there are specific aspects of
architecture, HVAC, electrical, plumbing, security, waste management,
sustainability, or technology that make the building special, be sure to point
them out in easily understandable terms.
5. User reactions. If possible, the entry should include comments from the
owners and end users. These are most helpful when they refer to specific
aspects of the facility, rather than just saying, "It's a great
building."
Time to get to work The
deadline for entering the 2007
Lab of the Year competition is Feb.
1, 2007. Architectural
firms, building owners, laboratory
planning firms, construction
firms, and other involved parties
are encouraged to review potential
facility candidates and make
their plans for creating and submitting
entries. Laboratories
completed and occupied between
August 1, 2005, and December
31, 2006, are eligible for the
2007 competition.
R&D Magazine and SEFA are proud of the LOY competition's tradition
of excellence and look forward to reviewing a broad range of excellent projects
in this year's contest.
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