Editorial Advisory Board: Bob Skolozdra
Lab Design spoke to Bob Skolozdra, a partner with Svigals + Partners in New Haven, CT, and a Lab Design News Editorial Advisory Board member.
With over 35 years of experience, Bob works as an architect and designs labs to balance architecture, engineering, and art.
Q: Congratulations on being part of the Lab Design News Editorial Advisory Board. What are you most looking forward to in this position?
A: I’m looking forward to working with peers in my field on how to elevate and differentiate the contributions and offerings that Lab Design News provides to the laboratory design and construction community.
Q: What are some of your career highlights so far?
A: My 30 years of designing over 300 laboratory projects for several Ivy League research institutions, including Yale University. This includes working with scientists on designing spaces that elevate their work, and the progress they make in solving complex scientific discoveries. I’m proud to have worked on the first LEED Commercial Interiors Lab renovation certified Gold back in 2006. Designing a 130,000-square-foot headquarters for a new private biopharmaceutical company is also at the top of the list. Our clients — whether they are in biotech, healthcare, or higher education — are improving lives and it’s thrilling to be a part of it.
Q: What’s a common misconception about your job?
A: People often say, “Oh you must be good in math,” while conversely, some people think architecture is about aesthetics. Architecture is not either. It’s about the experience of space. There are implications on how an environment looks, but on a deeper level, it’s about how a space functions technically and emotionally. A good architect understands both, and he or she brings ideas from both disciplines to solve the community’s and/or client’s needs. In lab design, the best environments support the research and the researcher, and the critical skill for solving those challenges is creativity, not math.
Q: What is the best piece of professional advice you have received?
A: You must be a good listener. We, as a collective, are better than our own ideas, and that is why collaborating with clients and consultants brings the best results. As the old African proverb states, “If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.”
Q: What is your favorite vacation spot?
A: I don’t have one; I have many. Two examples are Barcelona, Spain, and the eco-friendly tents in Saint John in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Antoni Gaudi is one of my favorite architects, and Barcelona is a great place to view many examples of his architecture. Gaudi was a master at blending visual appearance with engineering and material limitations to provide uplifting works of art and engineering. Camping in an eco-friendly tent in the Caribbean is a great way to connect to stunning surroundings in a shelter utilizing ingenuity, science, and engineering. The two experiences are actually related and have more in common than meets the eye.
