The Bell Labs Holmdel Complex , in Holmdel Township , Monmouth County , New Jersey , United States, functioned for 44 years as a research and development facility, initially for the Bell System and later Bell Labs . The centerpiece of the campus is an Eero Saarinen –designed structure that served as the home to over 6,000 engineers and researchers. This modernist building, dubbed "The Biggest Mirror Ever" by Architectural Forum , due to its mirror box exterior, was the site of a Nobel Prize discovery, the laser cooling work of Steven Chu .
26-597: The building has undergone renovations into a multi-purpose living and working space, dubbed Bell Works by its redevelopers. Since 2013 it has been operated by Somerset Development, who redeveloped the building into a mixed-use office for high-tech startup companies . The complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2017. A number of movies, television programs, and commercials have been filmed at Bell Works, including Severance , The Crowded Room , and Law & Order: Organized Crime . Before
52-417: A large elliptical master plan and country-road like approach. Over its active life-span, the facility and its layout were studied in universities as models of modernist architecture. Internally, the building was divided into four pavilions of labs and offices, each separated from the others by a cross-shaped atrium. The internal pavilions were linked via sky-bridges and perimeter walkway. The water tower on
78-447: A metropolis but in a great suburban location." Bell Works’ success as a proof of concept for Zucker’s metroburb was supported by its pioneering example of an entirely new workspace typology, one which used the scale of Bell Works to simulate the density of urban cityscapes within the office while providing a degree of flexibility and modularity that is difficult to achieve outside of a suburban environment. As of 2019, more than 90 percent of
104-484: A portion of the property between the main building and Crawfords Corner Road while retaining the entirety of the Eero Saarinen-designed structure (Bacevice et al., 2022). This deal with Toll Brothers helped to provide the capital for Inspired by Somerset Development to pursue its New Urbanism-inspired redevelopment plan at Bell Labs. The plan aimed to transform the site from office-lab to a space that would provide
130-662: A result of these design improvements, the building won numerous design and architecture awards, including the Docomomo US Modernism in America Award, Starnet Commercial Flooring Design Award, and the Azure Awards, Architecture Adaptive Re-Use category. In 2013, Inspired by Somerset Development officially secured ownership of the Bell Labs site and signed a deal with Toll Brothers to sell 103 acres of land to develop 225 homes on
156-464: Is open seven days a week, is home to public assets such as the Holmdel Library and Learning Center along with farmers’ markets and holiday celebrations. Bell Works has become a prestigious and iconic development, earning more than nine awards in design and leadership in just over a decade. The "state-of-the-art" 285-person Bell Theater opened at the site in 2024 in what was formerly a lecture hall at
182-725: The American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) began to plan a research laboratory in Holmdel Township in Central New Jersey . Constructed between 1959 and 1962, this complex was one of the final projects of Finnish -American architect Eero Saarinen before his death in 1961. Used as a research and development complex, it served the needs of the Bell Laboratories division of AT&T. Basic research, applied hardware development, and software development occurred in
208-485: The American economy according to Statista and CTech . Multiple cities and hubs have been described as global startup ecosystems . GSER publishes a yearly ranking of global startup ecosystems. The study does yearly reports ranking the top 40 global startup hubs. from 2023 The following is a list of the 15 largest exporting countries of high tech products by value in millions of United States dollars , according to
234-592: The 2 million-square-foot facility to Preferred Real Estate Investments, during the process of restructuring the company's research efforts. Despite initial plans to maintain the original buildings and keep the six-story complex as a corporate office park, Preferred later sought to rezone it as residential property. As a result, the complex was added to The Cultural Landscape Foundation 's list of 10 Most Endangered Historic Sites in New Jersey in May 2007. Additionally, action led to
260-484: The Holmdel Township community–and other nearby residents–with access to the benefits traditionally associated with an urban environment (shops, dining, retail, library, offices, etc.) while preserving the structure of an iconic piece of mid-twentieth-century architecture. Finding that these redevelopment plans satisfied requirements for residential zoning and preservation standards for the property, Holmdel Township officially approved Somerset Development to move forward with
286-454: The antenna and is oriented as Jansky's antenna was at 7:10 p.m. on September 16, 1932, at a moment of maximum signal caused by alignment with the center of our galaxy in the direction of the constellation Sagittarius. In subsequent years, radio astronomy and similar research was done at the separate Crawford Hill annex facility , some three miles away from the main Holmdel complex. In 1957,
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#1733085463479312-512: The building. The building's distinctive features, including its mirror-like appearance, led to recognition as the Laboratory of the Year by R&D in 1967. The building was expanded in 1966 and 1982 to its final size of two million square feet of office and laboratory space. Despite these expansions, the original curtain wall design remained intact, as did the unique layout of the site, which included
338-458: The campus’ office space was leased—a testament to the success of the concept. Today, Bell Works’ quarter-mile long atrium has been reimagined into a publicly accessible pedestrian street with shops, restaurants, healthcare, community services, and more. In addition to offering retail and office space, Bell Works hosts conferences and events, including the annual Fourth of July Fireworks, which attracts thousands of local residents. The building, which
364-591: The complex is a three-legged design that reminded people of a transistor . Despite any documentable historical evidence, an urban legend claims that the designer actually intended to memorialize the transistor. Another urban legend – less widely circulated than the transistor story – claims that the concrete floodlight stand at the base of the tower was originally a water fountain. The tower was still in usable condition more than 40 years after its construction. Bell Labs subsequently became part of Lucent , and then Alcatel-Lucent . In 2006, Alcatel-Lucent contracted to sell
390-438: The creation of a citizen's group, Preserving Holmdel, by former Bell employees, to lobby for keeping the complex as it was when in use as a laboratory. A report by Preservation New Jersey contemplated changes to the property, including ideas such as a university center, recreational complex, and a healthcare facility. The transaction with Preferred Real Estate Investments did not close, and on May 17, 2012 Holmdel Township declared
416-528: The laboratory. Home to professional theater, music, and comedy, the theater is curated by the Axelrod Performing Arts Center located in Deal . High-tech High technology ( high tech or high-tech ), also known as advanced technology ( advanced tech ) or exotechnology , is technology that is at the cutting edge : the highest form of technology available. It can be defined as either
442-408: The most complex or the newest technology on the market. The opposite of high tech is low technology , referring to simple, often traditional or mechanical technology; for example, a slide rule is a low-tech calculating device. When high tech becomes old, it becomes low tech, for example vacuum tube electronics. Further, high tech is related to the concept of mid-tech, that is a balance between
468-455: The present building, the site was used by Bell Telephone Laboratories for research. Karl Guthe Jansky invented radio astronomy there, and a monument was placed at the former location ( 40°21′54.5″N 74°09′48.9″W / 40.365139°N 74.163583°W / 40.365139; -74.163583 ) of the antenna almost seventy years later in 1998. The monument is a stylized sculpture of
494-425: The property was officially purchased by Inspired by Somerset Development – which submitted a concept plan in accordance with Holmdel Township’s redevelopment plan for $ 27 million. Inspired by Somerset Development proposed an adaptive reuse project that included offices, a health and wellness center, restaurants, shopping, a spa, and a 20,000-square-foot public library. Recreational space and luxury homes were planned for
520-547: The redevelopment of Bell Labs in August 2013 The project was a massive undertaking: The lobby was overgrown with plants and the quarter mile-long roof leaked. Ralph Zucker, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Inspired by Somerset Development, assembled a team of architects, designers, and marketers, including Alexander Gorlin Architects, The Garibaldi Group, Co Op Brand Partners, and NPZ Style + Décor. Inspired by Somerset Development,
546-466: The site as an "Area in Need of Redevelopment" and adopted a redevelopment plan for the property that included various adaptive reuses of the main building, the construction of up to 40 single-family homes, and 185 age-restricted townhomes outside the main ring road surrounding the building. The plan was based on a concept proposed by Inspired by Somerset Development (then Somerset Development). In September 2013,
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#1733085463479572-443: The surrounding land; national homebuilder Toll Brothers was slated to be the residential developer of the project. Alexander Gorlin served as the architect for the projects and introduced new designs, which included opening up the laboratory spaces with atrium light by replacing Saarinen's metal panels with glass, redesigning the two mammoth 1,000-by-100-foot atria floors, and replacing skylights with transparent photovoltaic panels. As
598-721: The township concluded a lease agreement for $ 0 to house the Holmdel Township branch of the Monmouth County Library at Bell Works. This represented a significant increase in space for the library, which went from 3,000 square feet to 18,000 square feet. Bell Works is often described as a "metroburb", a phrase coined by Ralph Zucker. According to the Bell Works website, a metroburb is “an urban hub. A little metropolis in suburbia… A large-scale mixed-use building, with great access, office, retail, entertainment, hospitality, residential, health, wellness, fitness, everything you would find in
624-595: The two opposite extreme qualities of low-tech and high tech. Mid-tech could be understood as an inclusive middle that combines the efficiency and versatility of digital/automated technology with low-tech's potential for autonomy and resilience. Startups working on high technologies (or developing new high technologies) are sometimes referred to as deep tech ; the term may also refer to disruptive innovations or those based on scientific discoveries. High tech, as opposed to high-touch , may refer to self-service experiences that do not require human interaction. The phrase
650-530: Was provided by the OECD in 2006. It is based on the intensity of research and development activities used in these industries within OECD countries, resulting in four distinct categories. In the 21st century, the high tech industry is a significant part of several advanced economies. The Israeli economy has the highest ratio in the world, with the high tech sector accounting for 20% of the economy. High tech makes up 9.3% of
676-464: Was used in a 1958 The New York Times story advocating " atomic energy " for Europe: "... Western Europe, with its dense population and its high technology ...." Robert Metz used the term in a financial column in 1969, saying Arthur H. Collins of Collins Radio "controls a score of high technology patents in a variety of fields" and in a 1971 article used the abbreviated form, "high tech". A widely used classification of high-technological industries
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