Q&A with Laboratory Architectural Designer Joanne Clausen
You studied food science for your first undergraduate degree. What led you down that path?
In high school I was in the FFA and a professor from Kansas State University presented career options in agriculture. Food science was one of the options that he talked about, and I thought it was really interesting to think about developing new food products and distributing safe food products throughout the US and the world.
You worked for four years at a milk company. Tell me about your job.
I worked at Schroeder, a family-owned milk plant in St. Paul, Minnesota. We produced milk at all levels from skim to heavy whipping cream, chocolate milk, eggnog, and even co-packing to make nutritional shakes served in hospitals.
I started as a quality control lab technician. I tested incoming milk that comes in on tankers to make sure it was free of antibiotics and things like that. I also tested the final product for milk fat content and did microbial plating, which involved taking a sample of milk, swabbing it on a petri dish, then putting it in an incubator for a few days to see what grows. There were other fun tests we did, like the one on whipping cream to make sure it would actually whip into whipping cream. We put it in a mixer to watch it perform and see if it could create stiff peaks after two minutes.
Eventually, I made it to a supervisor’s role where I was then managing the lab technicians.
At some point you made a switch to interior design/architecture. Was there a reason for the switch?
About 20 years ago I had a health scare. I had to have brain surgery and ended up in a hospital in Phoenix for five weeks. I had a really tough recovery and when I got out, I felt like I had been given a second chance at life. I decided what I really wanted to do, which was interior design. So, I made the switch. I went back to school and got into design.
My first long-term design job after graduation was at H2I Group as an estimator, bidding jobs and getting costs together for projects. From there H2I started doing more design work and they were like, “Oh you know how to use CAD and Revit,” so I started doing more design work which I loved.
Did you learn much about lab planning in school?
Labs weren’t even mentioned in any class I took. They talked about commercial design in terms of hospitality, hotel, restaurants, retail, etc. I think labs are something that gets missed in a lot of curriculum, but it’s such a big industry, so why isn’t it brought up at all?
How was the transition to HERA?
I learned a lot at H2I that is directly applicable to what we do. I came to HERA with direct experience with casework and how labs are designed based on how users use the space. I’m used to creating layouts that are functional and work well for the users. In a way I fell into lab planning, but it’s something that I really enjoy. A lot of times I feel like, “Wow, it’s work but it’s not work.” The work here is really enjoyable.
At HERA you’re working on agricultural projects such as the Pennsylvania Department of General Services Joint Laboratory Facility. Is there anything from your dairy background or time spent in labs that influences your approach to these projects?
Having gone through university and taken chemistry classes in labs very similar to what we’re designing, that definitely helps with working on academic projects. I remember 30 years ago being in these spaces myself. And then having actually worked in a lab and knowing the equipment and some of the processes scientists are doing also helps.
The experience of working in a lab gives me a real understanding that each process that scientists do requires certain steps and a particular amount of space. Those are big lab design drivers.
I really listen to the users when they talk about what their needs are. I know what they’re saying is being spoken for a reason and it’s something very important to them. I do my best to make sure their voices are heard. Ultimately, they have to use the space and live with it.