New Lab

[purplecat]

Here are some photos of my new lab at work:




This is our storage cupboard. I'm still unpacking, though the NAO boxes are now on the racks.


This is a view across the lab towards the "DigiWall". Everyone is very excited about the DigiWall - I haven't a clue what we will actually do with it. The man you can see spent two days setting it up and has now vanished. I've not attempted to use it. Hopefully there are instructions somewhere.


This is the route from the entrance to the lab to the offices and meeting room based within the lab. I'm going to have to do something risk assessment-wise to ensure that people can always safely access their offices (though one of my PhD students today was suggesting it might be good exercise to have to dodge drones on the way to his office).


This is my office which now contains a desk. I realise it looks a bit unprepossessing but most of our offices look a bit like this. It's smaller than my old office but I do have the rest of the space (including a meeting room) to play with so I think on the whole I've traded up.



My colleagues in Engineering who three years ago were all moved into a ginormous custom-built state of the art building where there is not enough room and they have to share offices are all a bit gob-smacked by how I managed to get this much space. I'm not honestly sure I know either - I forsee spending the rest of my career defending my territory.

Comments

[ffutures]

Obviously the robots use the wall to post their demands when they decide to go on strike or eliminate the disgusting flesh-bags that have the gall to try to control them.

Or not.

[purplecat]

Makes note to ensure robots do not have access to the DigiWall.

[nanila]

My colleagues in Engineering who three years ago were all moved into a ginormous custom-built state of the art building where there is not enough room and they have to share offices...

Is this a sector wide thing with Engineering? The same thing happened at my institution to my Engineering colleagues a couple of years ago.

My building is relatively ramshackle in comparison but at least we have our own generously sized offices.

And congratulations on your stonking great lab space!

[purplecat]

At one level it makes a kind of sense - they were scattered all over campus in a variety of buildings at variable states of ramshackleness but even though the new building is HUGE it must have been obvious pretty early one that it wasn't HUGE enough and corralling all your (hopefully world-beating engineers) into labs which are too small doesn't seem like a great strategy.

To add insult to injury it's now been renamed from the "Engineering Building" to the "Nancy Rothwell Building" after our departing VC. At some level, of course, it was all her doing but I'm not sure that really helps.

[senmut]

Nice pictures. Glad they got the desk sorted.

[purplecat]

I have a whiteboard and two pedestal units as well now. Any day, I am promised, I will get a bookshelf.

[fred_mouse]

Nice lab! And presumably the tiny little office space will discourage people from coming in to talk to you.

[purplecat]

I suspect the need to go through a pair of swipe card activated doors before you even get to my office will be a more effective deterrent- though because Student Welfare I have requested a doorbell - whether I'll get one is another kettle of fish.

[fred_mouse]

Oh, yeah, that would do it. On the one hand, I understand the need for locked labs. On the other hand, I hate them.