Introducing Janelia

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute's new $500 million linkurl:Janelia farm;http://www.hhmi.org/janelia/ campus opens its doors officially next week. This week I toured the main building, which will house 26 labs, during a gathering of HHMI's international researchers. The building is striking. It's shaped like a C and tucked into the side of a hill. The roof is covered with grass and serves as such a convincing meadow that several deer have trotted off the edge. Many of the walls are made of thick glass--responsible for a few embarassing walk-ins for some people--and lend themselves to the trendy, open concept laboratory design. There are no doubt many other great feats of architecture at Janelia, but what really impressed me were the floors in the pub (yes, there is a pub). They are laid in four inch square cross-sections of mesquite. So when a late night at the lab calls for a little...