Agile Spaces: Effective Design Solutions for Lab and Technical Facilities

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May 3, 2019

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Knowledge

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Discovery, Learning

This image shows a well-equipped scientific laboratory space. The room features four laboratory workbenches with dark countertops and white cabinet storage underneath in the center of the room in rows. Each workbench has extensive shelving filled with numerous glass bottles, containers, and laboratory glassware of various sizes. The lab has light-colored flooring, a drop ceiling with recessed lighting, and glass walls on the right for complete visibility into the lab from the hallway. Various scientific instruments and equipment are on countertops on the left, as well as communal sinks. The overall appearance is of a modern, functional wet lab designed for chemical or biological research.

This image shows a well-equipped scientific laboratory space. A researcher in a white lab coat is working at one of the lab workstations in the center of the room. The lab features extensive shelving along the back wall filled with numerous glass bottles, containers, and laboratory glassware of various sizes. There are several laboratory workbenches with dark countertops and white cabinet storage underneath. A large water container can be seen in the foreground right. The lab has light-colored flooring, a drop ceiling with recessed lighting, and glass doors visible on the left that lead to another area. Various scientific instruments and equipment are placed throughout the workspace. The overall appearance is of a modern, functional wet lab designed for chemical or biological research.

By Geoff Lisle

Today, research facilities are moving beyond labs with benches and countertops. Labs include layouts that cater to more specific needs: fume hoods and biosafety cabinets, as well as specialty medical apparatus, such as imaging, magnetic resonance imaging, and computerized tomography equipment.

Achieving a balance is the key, and this balance is different for each institution’s unique needs. If labs are too customized, the design loses flexibility, and researchers aren’t likely to work in the building throughout its lifecycle. So, designers and planners look to optimize capital expenditures relative to designing and building the lab for present needs and with an eye to the future.

At the same time, there are different biosafety containment levels among labs, with requirements and protocols related to specific biosafety threat levels. Also, scientific leaders have environmental requirements for engineering regarding vibration, testing spaces, electromagnetic interference (EMI), and acoustics control, as they apply to such areas as optics labs or other specialty equipment areas.

Agile Spaces: Effective Design Solutions for Lab and Technical Facilities

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