This one's for the experimentalists

[kaberett]

I am increasingly convinced that the reason labs are so often located in the basement has nothing to do with technical reasons (weight of equipment; minimising vibrations; etc) and is instead 100% concerned with convincing you that you will never see the sky again.

(Lab is 15degC and falling. I have at least an hour to go. Group pub outing started twenty-five minutes ago. And it is still the case that I really love my job.)

Comments

[ceb]

Ahaha, try studying optics. Even the first floor labs are windowless black rooms with the lights off. And the light-sensitive chemicals can only be handled in windowless orange-lit rooms.

It was after that that I decided a view was essential to my sanity. In the meantime, try covering the walls in pictures of the outside, it helps.

[sorrillia]

Sometimes it's the grad students who are photosensitive. My lab is the only pchem lab on the first floor here, because we don't actually have any technical reasons to be in the basement. We all keep our blinds closed and blackout curtains (I don't know why we have those: we don't need them.) down almost all the time, anyway.

[ceb]

Our office spent all last year with the blinds closed. But we've had a change of students since then... so when none of them were in the office at the start of the year I opened all the blinds. No-one's closed any of them yet so I think that might be a win :-)