Newhouse M.P.D. Push Lab
September 2012
At the beginning of the Fall 2012 Semester in the Office Environment Design class I took, we partnered up with S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communication's Multimedia Photo Department (M.P.D.) to come up with a re-design for their old photo lab, which had the remains of the dark rooms and various other sinks and bins from when still photography was all film.
Bruce Strong and Doug Wonders, professors in the department, and a handful of their senior students instructed us as to what their hopes were for the re-design: a collaborative space where MPD Students could come work on projects, display their work, and get feedback from other students, that would also promote new ideas and pushing the limits of their work. They dubbed it "The PUSH Lab".
After this discussion and touring the existing space, we paired up and got to work on creating our own versions of this "PUSH" Lab. For my partner, Sarah Pinchock, and I, we decided on creating a bright vibrant space that would help make the windowless location of the lab brighten up the surrounding area. Being that this is Syracuse University, we decided on citrus colors of lime, lemon, and orange to use throughout the space.
A strong presence and easy way-finding was important, because not only is the layout of Newhouse relatively confusing, the MPD lab is located in a dead-end hallway, which several people can walk by without ever noticing its there. Because of this, Sarah and I decided on installing a large line of windows at the far end of the hall... the back of the Push Lab, to showcase the work going on inside, and to brighten the hallway.
Because of the shift from film to digital, we had to make sure we had a monitor in the gallery space we created so that slideshows or videos could be shown alongside any printed pin-up work on the cork that it's mounted on.
On the other side of the hall from the pin-up space are light wood panels with framed out white boards that run along the wall. Here, students can sit and draw out ideas that they may have during group collaborations.
In the back corner of the Push lab, we created a sound recording studio for students to experiment in and do whatever audio voice-overs may be needed for the projects created.
A view from inside the audio recording suite.
Around the corner from the gallery space and across from the audio recording suite are multicolored lockers for the students to utilize when locking up their possessions or MPD Still Photography equipment like lenses and camera bodies. Next to those is a printing station for the computers provided in the Push Lab.
Finally, visible from the hallway through the large windows into the Push Lab is the computer station. These stations have panels that pull up and drop down in the desk so that students can have privacy when working individually or more space when working in groups. Along the windows is a planter which contains several grasses to bring a bit of the outdoors inside, and to soften the many angles inside the space.
