Arnold 8 Biosafety Lab at the Tufts University Medical School
On any given day, we, members of Payette’s Marketing Department, spend our time doing what we do best: Marketing and Graphic Design. But a few weeks ago, we decided that instead of spending our day at the office, we would pay a visit to the island – “Containment Island.”
On this island, drinks with umbrellas were replaced with Tyvek suits and face masks. On this day, we donned these stylish items in a photo shoot. With Chris Baylow on hand for art direction and photography by Keitaro Yoshioka, our all-star team was ready for our close-up. Team ‘Payette Marketing’ entered a new zone, known as a Biosafety Laboratory (BSL-3), or more specifically, the Arnnold 8 Biosafety Lab at Tufts University Medical School.
We moved boxes, tidied up the space and were given a lesson on how to act like a professional researcher. To look real, we had to make the experience as real as possible, a part of the process that people often don’t think about. We were dressed with two pairs of rubber gloves each, one of which had to be taped around our wrists to seal us into our suits. We learned how to hold certain laboratory tools as realistically as possible. Not only did we have to learn how hold these tools, but we had to hold them for long periods of time, without moving. When we weren’t holding extended poses, we were asked to ‘walk faster’ or ‘slower this time’ and ‘ok, again,’ and again. There’s no question to why we were so wiped at the end of the day—imagine boiling to death inside hermetically sealed Tyvek suits for hours. The real researches will have to do this for four hours at a time (with no breaks.)
As for the frames that were captured, Chris clearly explained the rationale behind why we want to get certain angles and why. Light and transparency were the most important attributes. The connectedness of the biosafety lab to the exterior lab benches greatly enhanced our experience.
Photography copyright Keitaro Yoshioka
Related:
Containment Island
Payette work at Tufts University
Northeastern EXP features an organic pinwheel design, shaping research and classroom neighborhoods with shared community spaces radiating from the core to define each area. The building façade was tuned to achieve a 78% reduction in peak solar heat gain and a 62% reduction in cumulative solar radiation leading to energy use reductions and reduced mechanical system sizing. The use of stainless steel further leads to an embodied carbon reduction of almost one million tons when compared to aluminum while the natural stainless surface reflects light in a natural and warm tone giving the building an inherent energy.
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