Bell Labs (1010)

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  Projects

  Eero Saarinen's Bell Labs, Now Devoid of Life

  … complete with urban ammenities like shops and a coffee shop. But as Fred Bernstein wrote in last month's cover story, the building's uncompromising layout complicates Bell Lab's adaptive reuse. New York architect Alexander Gorlin is currently exploring strategies that will bring life back to the historic complex, while still preserving Saarinen's …

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  Viewpoints

  Finding Beauty in Climate Futures

  … scale models, and films made especially for the exhibition, from Bell Labs’ first photovoltaic cell to advances in turbine technology. Spanning four thematic galleries, the themes of the show include the individual’s role within the political tapestry of energy, the devices that shape our interactions with power, and design solutions for sustainable buildings …

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  Projects

  3 Adaptive Reuse Projects Prioritize Flexibility for the Future

  … insists it’s committed to offices for the foreseeable future). Back to Top BELL LABS Eero Saarinen’s Bell Labs (1962), whose adaptive reuse as Bell Works was led by New York–based Alexander Gorlin Architects and developer Ralph Zucker with interiors by NPZ Studio, proved the ideal armature for flexibility, with its cavernous …

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  Programs

  Npz studio+ on Breathing New Life into Old Spaces

  … design and creating experiences, the firm continues the legacy of the historic building with nods to the past but reactivates the space with flexible design and events. Bell Works, New Jersey Reimagining Bell Labs “Bell Works is the reimagination of the former Bell Labs laboratories designed by Eero Saarinen. It was a process. I started …

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  Viewpoints

  The Next Generation of Solar Is Lighter, Better, and Cheaper

  … way back in 1839 by French physicist Edmond Becquerel, but it wasn’t until the 1950s that the first modern silicon-based solar cells were demonstrated at Bell Labs. Since then, the race to make solar energy more efficient and less expensive has been underway and progress has been dramatic. In the past ten years …

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  Viewpoints

  Preservationists Are Investigating the Historical Significance of SOM's Westinghouse Research Center

  … process that we’re eager to participate in.” It’s a misfortune in an era in which corporate campuses have found successful revival in many locations: The Bell Labs complex in Holmdel, NJ, Union Carbide’s former campus in Danbury, CT, and even a midcentury dinosaur of unquestionably lesser architectural pedigree, Allegheny Center in Pittsburgh …

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  Viewpoints

  Building the Uncanny Corporate Modernism of Severance 

  … the world outside of work, references to midcentury office design abound. COURTESY APPLE TV+ Production designer Jeremy Hindle was inspired by Saarinen's John Deere HQ and Bell Labs complex, the latter of which serves as the exterior set for the Lumon workplace. COURTESY APPLE TV+ Enthusiasts of midcentury architecture will notice that when Mark …

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  Viewpoints

  Why Westbeth Failed—And What We Must Learn From It

  … 746-754 Washington Street building on the complex. The building was re-structured to accommodate any noise and vibrations the train made, but by the mid 1960s, Bell Labs had outgrown Greenwich Village. Bell Laboratories Building in 1936. Courtesy Wikipedia To undertake the ambitious process of converting the industrial laboratory, Stevens and Kaplan sought additional …

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  Programs

  Reconsidering Eero

  … tiles wouldn’t work. In a way the TWA terminal is Saarinen’s pedestal chair turned into a building. He also started using reflective glass. He used it to reflect the landscape with the IBM Watson building, in Yorktown Heights, New York. Bell Labs—one of the first uses of fully mirrored glass—reflected …

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  Programs

  The DNA of Science Labs

  … and McGhee, who has spent the last 20 years studying lab design and refining his theory of space planning, constantly refer to the most successful research centers from the past century—such as the Salk Institute; AT&T’s Bell Labs, in Murray Hill, New Jersey; Xerox’s PARC, in Palo Alto, California; and the