F4H Living Lab

Located at the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) campus, a retrofitted greenhouse now serves as the F4H Living Lab, a space for collaborative research and educational programming. 

The greenhouse originally came with the Lamont property that was donated to Columbia University in 1948, and had undergone extensive renovations in the early 2000’s thanks to the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences Chair Kevin Griffin’s research funding. But without regular maintenance (and the ample resources required to do so), many mechanical features and equipment had broken down over time, making it challenging to use the greenhouse to conduct rigorous controlled and temperature-sensitive experiments. At its peak during the summer, recorded indoor temperatures were up to 155°F.

In Summer 2026, in partnership with the Earth Network Climate Education for a Resilient Future and Lamont Research Professor Ben Bostick, the F4H Living Lab hosted several students-led research projects to study crop response in a hot and dry environment not so different from the crop fields in climate-impacted regions around the world. 

Currently, there is no heating system in place to keep the greenhouse running through the colder months. However, F4H is actively raising funds and looking for opportunities to further invest in the next phase of renovations, which include astronomical sun tracking and automation of the fans and shades, and new energy-efficient fans and professional-grade shade panels. We hope the F4H Living Lab can return next summer to host more research experiments and educational programming.