Flad stands out by fitting in

The exterior of Simon Hall is designed to look like other limestone buildings on Indiana University’s campus. Photo courtesy of Flad Architects

Perhaps what stands out most about Simon Hall, a research facility on the campus of Indiana University, is the fact that it fits in so well.

Madison-based Flad Architects was charged with designing a state-of-the-art research building that blends in with Indiana University’s historic country limestone architecture.

The project received high honors in the 2008 R&D Magazine Lab of the Year contest. Trevor Calarco, a planner with Flad on the project, said the distinction signifies a mix of preserving the heritage of the campus and serving the school’s future researchers.

Calarco said the university needed the research building because the chemistry, biology and biochemistry departments, housed in separate buildings, were short on lab space.

But university officials wanted a building that looked like the campus’ other buildings, some of which were built in the 1930s.

To preserve the campus’s historical feel, Calarco said, Flad architects designed a six-story building with tapered walls so as to appear smaller from a pedestrian point of view.

The 140,000-square-foot building acts as a hub between the three departments, with underground tunnels to two department buildings and an underground physical connection to a third.

Calarco said Flad was able to conceal the physical connection with a 26,000-square-foot green roof that includes 30 inches of soil and trees.

Calarco said students walk over the structure without knowing they are on top of it. The ultimate compliment came, he said, when an aspiring research student got lost because he was having trouble distinguishing between the new research facility and the older buildings.

— Lawrence Silver

New look offers sentimental appeal

Gabe Rose, vice president of Roman Electric Co., says he hopes new graphics placed on company trucks will draw positive attention for the electrical contractor. Photos submitted by Roman Electric Co.

Roman Electric Co. has relied on the work of its employees to promote the company since 1929.

Now the Milwaukee electrical contractor is betting pictures of its employees will help market the company as well.

The firm placed large photos of electricians on two of its service vans. Each van has a photo of the actual electrician who drives it.

A picture of company founder Roman Rose with two electricians sitting on the running board of a 1932 Ford Panel Truck, which was the first service truck the company used, also has been placed on a smaller van.

Gabe Rose, vice president of Roman Electric, said the firm decided to use the vans as moving billboards because customers often point to the vans as the way they heard about the company.

“People seem to like them,” Rose said of the newly decorated vans. “People are saying, ‘Boy, those things really pop out.’ So it seems like the effect is working.”

Rose said company electricians are enjoying some neighborhood celebrity status since most drive the vans home after work.

“They take pride in that,” Rose said of Roman electricians. “We are willing to put their face on the truck, so they feel like they must be doing something right.”

The company plans to put new graphics on at least 10 more trucks during the next couple months.

— Lawrence Silver