Is the Atrium More Important than the Lab? Designer Buildings for New Cultures of Creativity

Abstract

Responding to criticism that the pioneers of laboratory studies have neglected the architecture of science labs and have failed to consider the importance of space for scientific practices, a few authors have recently shown an interest in the design and planning process of science buildings. They have convincingly demonstrated the extent to which the power of laboratories depends on sequestrations achieved with walls and doors and have explored how architecture might challenge or compromise the cognitive authority of experimental science (Galison & Thompson, 1999; Gieryn, 1998; Murphy, 2006; Shapin, 1998).