There's New People in the Central Laboratory Building
A new phase of NAL development opened when about 60 staff members of the Proton and Neutrino sections moved into the west wing of the second and third floors of the Central Laboratory and became the first of the occupants of the upper floors of the building. Laboratory facilities of the Proton section have been set up on the ground floor. John Barry, building coordinator, and the staffs of Technical Services, Plant Services and Engineering, arranged for space layout, phone service and temporary electrical connections so that the groups were able to begin work immediately after the move. The cafeteria in the building has already started to accommodate the increasing luncheon volumn. Heating, cooling, elevator facilities and other permanent amenities will follow during the coming months.
The move in many ways parallels the first move of NAL employees to the NAL Village in 1968, when ingenuity and dedication enabled the NAL staff to forge a working organization in the Village for the construction of the world's largest accelerator while school buses were picking up children who were still residents of the Village of Weston. Those were interesting times for Laboratory employees, and the new phase in the Central Laboratory will no doubt be remembered as a similar time in retrospect. Many employees can recall the red and white striped tent with picnic tables used as a conference room; the delights and disasters of the first air building, the pigeons in the first Users meeting in The Village Barn, all of which have become pleasant, or at least unusual, memories in the NAL history book.
In reviewing the latest move, comments were heard from all sides. Don Getz, Assistant Director, was reminded of an ancient Chinese curse which says, "...may you always live in interesting times..." John Peoples, head of the Proton section, commented on the move, "It was very well planned and executed. We were able to go right to work the next day and we function very satisfactorily in the new quarters."
Through the glass sides of the "high rise" building, the view of "Big Woods," the graceful curve of the new entrance road, and the reflecting pond, over and beyond the remaining clutter of construction equipment, give promise of the new perspectives that will come to employees and visitors as they occupy the new structure."
