LAB 601 and Dzignlight Studios opened their new post house on North Avenue. The 9,000 square foot studio occupies two floors in the Southern Dairies building, an old dairy manufacturing plant converted to commercial space. The complex has transformed itself into a hub for local technology and media companies. Smith Dalia Architects designed the renovation work and the buildout of the LAB 601 facility. Clients enter at the lower level and are led by a curving wall to stairs that lead up to the edit level; a theatrical space. Says Lianne Epstein, Project Manager and Designer of the new lab, “To one side is the machine room, a glowing, pulsing, flashing, whirring, half elliptical object set off by the dark backdrop of the high ceiling. It is like some foreign object dropped in from outer space, acting as the lifeline feeding pure technology to the edit suites.”

The new layout has allowed LAB 601 to expand by purchasing another Media Composer 9000xl and a Softimage DS. LAB 601 is the first post house in Atlanta to offer Avid’s Unity MediaNet. Unity serves multiple simultaneous video streams.

The new facility also boasts a movie screening room and a fire pole in addition to the winding stairs. In celebration of the facelift, LAB 601 and Dzignlight Studios held a party on July 13th, where servers dressed in lab coats, a room was transformed into a hip DJ booth and the finale, a tech room which lies behind a garage door that can be remotely opened and closed. No other lab has ever been so cool. Producers, publishers, and other party attendees enjoyed hors d’oeuvres by Affairs to Remember and tours by LAB 601 employees.

Comprehensive Technical Group provided LAB 601’s system integration. Dzignlight Studios has taken advantage of the move to expand its existing effects and animation business. Their systems will be integrated with LAB 601’s, offering each easy access to the other’s services.

Two new employees will be enjoying LAB’s hip new home: Karen Clint as Director of Marketing and Sales and Meredith Williams as Reception/Client Services. Clint comes from EAI where she worked as an Account Manager on accounts including Andersen Consulting, Equifax and the Atlanta History Center. Before EAI, Clint worked as an Account Executive at C2 Media and as Marketing/Communications Coordinator at Turner Learning. Williams returns to Atlanta after two years freelancing in New York from Production Assistant to Second Assistant Director. Among many projects, Williams completely wrote, produced, directed and edited her own short film while completing the New York Film Academy. She also worked alongside Video Director/Filmmaker, Hype Williams on his first feature film, “Belly.”