In 1997, I wrote an 8-page report, "Preserving a National Technology Treasure" (attachment), describing efforts by Square D Company, Groupe Schneider NA, community groups, the U.S. National Park Service, and historic preservationits to save Thomas Edison's most productive lab, in West Orange, N.J., where he and his research team developed more than half of his total 1,093 patents. It was published in R&D (Research & Development) Magazine in 1997.
Click image for full article.
I'm happy to say that the lab was completely restored and has been prospering under the watchful eye of the National Park Service. You can visit the Thomas Edison National Historic Site from 10 a.m. EASTERN, Wednesday to Sunday.
In February 2019, I returned to West Orange to report on the effort to convert Edison's storage battery factory into 279 apartments and 21 penthouse units for the Spring (May) issue of Multifamily Design+Construction magazine.
Related Stories
Laboratories | Sep 12, 2017
New York City is positioning itself as a life sciences hub
A new Transwestern report highlights favorable market and regulatory changes.
Laboratories | Aug 3, 2017
Today’s university lab building by the numbers
A three-month study of science facilities conducted by Shepley Bulfinch reveals key findings related to space allocation, size, and cost.
Laboratories | Jul 18, 2017
Pfizer breaks ground on new R&D campus in St. Louis suburb
The facility will consolidate the company’s local workforce, and provide flexible work and research spaces.
Building Team Awards | Jun 12, 2017
The right prescription: University of North Dakota School of Medicine & Health Sciences
Silver Award: North Dakota builds a new medical/health sciences school to train and retain more physicians.
Laboratories | Apr 13, 2017
How to design transformative scientific spaces? Put people first
While most labs are designed to achieve that basic functionality, a transformational lab environment prioritizes a science organization’s most valuable assets: its people.
Laboratories | Sep 26, 2016
Construction has finished on the world’s largest forensic anthropology lab, designed by SmithGroupJJR
The lab’s main purpose will be to help in the investigation, recovery, and accounting of Americans lost in past wars.
Laboratories | Aug 8, 2016
The lab of the future: smaller, flexible, tech-enabled, business focused
A new CBRE report emphasizes the importance of collaboration and standardization in lab design.
Laboratories | Jun 16, 2016
How HOK achieved design consensus for London's Francis Crick Institute
The 980,000-sf, $931 million facility is the result of a unique financing mechanism that brought together three of the U.K.’s heaviest funders of biomedical research—the Medical Research Council, Cancer Research UK, and the Wellcome Trust—and three leading universities—University College London, Imperial College London, and King’s College London.
