Champlain Dental Laboratory: An 'Architect at Heart' Designs Every Detail

Founded in 1968 by Don Perrin, Champlain Dental Laboratory spent 50-plus years in a basement space in downtown Burlington, VT, with tiny windows where the only view was of people’s feet as they walked by. Let’s just say that the lab—which changed ownership and was eventually purchased by Apex Lab Group in 2019—has a lot more natural light in its new home.

When Apex decided the 18-person lab needed a new facility, Champlain’s General Manager Frank Frost hunted for space for six months, finally settling on two adjacent suites in a business complex in nearby Williston that featured big glass windows all along the front of the building, flooding the space with light. The landlord, who owned a construction company, was willing to knock down the wall between the suites, gut the space and construct it per the lab’s specs, saying “Bring me some plans.”

As “an architect at heart,” that was music to Frost’s...