2023 Women in Construction: Ariane Purdy, Ebbrell Architecture + Design

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What was your greatest professional achievement or most notable project in the last 12 months? The biggest accomplishment I’ve helped to spearhead is a shift in how we approach laboratory design. Traditionally, labs are designed in a way that is very specific to the science being conducted. Because of the pandemic, our landlord clients have excess, unoccupied office space. However, an opportunity arose – convert office space to higher-demand lab space. Without end users, vetted programs, or ideal floor-to-floor heights and support infrastructure, we created a design formula that guides the development of various labs that support biology, chemistry, and prototyping pursuits. It’s been both challenging and rewarding!

How are you involved in community organizations and/or charities? With three very active school-aged boys, I concentrate my volunteer efforts on helping at their respective schools. I’ve been a member of the facilities task force at the Marblehead Community Charter Public School, where I initiated a campaign to get the school’s run-down exterior walls muraled. The result was an amazing facelift with the empowering words, “I am loved, I am beautiful, I am important.” It’s great for the kids and their families to that see every day. I also run a “Math Stars” program where I work collaboratively with third graders to solve multi-step logic and math problems.