The Erma Byrd Biomedical Research Center in West Virginia, United States

The Erma Byrd Biomedical Research Center design by Stanley Beaman & Sears

The Erma Byrd Biomedical Research Center designed by Stanley Beaman & Sears, Inc is located in West Virginia, United States. On each floor, open-bay labs are aligned along the western side; while adaptable to many modes of research, they are necessarily a rigid module. The eastern side, containing researchers' offices with transparent interior walls, post-doctoral students' open desk spaces, conference rooms and areas of informal circulation, accommodates the imaginative, free-associational aspect of scientific work.
Between these is a layered axis consisting of a ghost corridor housing lab sinks; a file of alcoves for support activities and equipment; and a security wall finished on the office side with custom millwork and opaque blue art-glass 'windows', hinting at the differences and the flow between rational and romantic thought – a visual metaphor for intuition infiltrating the methodical work of research.