by Elise Woodward, AIA LEED AP

Expecting the unexpected: using scenario planning to improve the lab construction process

Lab design and construction is complex in the best of circumstances. In the November/December 2007 issue of R&D magazine, Elise Woodward talks about the roles of purchasing, scheduling, and coordination in the delivery of sophisticated research facilities.

Boston, MA – Elise Woodward, AIA LEED AP, was honored at Build Boston today, where she received the Award of Excellence at the eighth annual Women in Design conference.

The second woman architect at Shepley Bulfinch when she joined in 1981 and the third to be named a principal, Elise is a designer, mentor, and convener. As a leader of the firm, she served for six years on its five-member board of directors, four as board chair. Her rich and varied experience directing and shaping science, education, and healthcare projects has included healthcare and academic science and research buildings from Maine to California. Elise is a member of the AIA and ...[more]

Hamilton, NY – The Robert H.N. Ho Science Center was dedicated in a September 15 ceremony at Colgate University. Described as “transformative” for the University both in form and in academic approach to the sciences, the 121,200 s.f. Center is designed to encourage interdisciplinary scientific research, as well as collaborative teaching and learning. It houses 40 research labs and 13 teaching labs, as well as the University’s environmental studies program and the departments of geography, geology, physics and astronomy, and part of the biology department.

Its ...[more]

Architectural materials reinforce the emotional perception of the building in space. An embracing curve of curtainwall, glowing in the heart of the healthcare campus, holds the visitor and public waiting spaces in tight connection to the healing gardens inside and out.

A distinctive brick and punched window composition expresses the rectangular form of the utilitarian spaces behind the curving wall. The building meets the ground plane supported strongly with precast concrete panels with ashlar pattern.

Elise Woodward, AIA, LEED AP

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ANN ARBOR, MI – The University of Michigan held opening ceremonies for its new 420,000 s.f., $215 million Cardiovascular Center (CVC), a centerpiece of the University of Michigan (U-M) Health System campus. The CVC receives its first patients on June 11.

The CVC provides one-stop access to most of the University’s adult heart and vascular care, and allow U-M specialists from different disciplines to work together as never before.

The Center was designed with two guiding principles: creating an inclusive learning and healing environment for everyone from doctors and patients to visitors; and creating connections through medicine, art, gardens and the natural world.

One of its most striking features is a cylindrical, ...[more]