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Latest Reports

Tradeline's industry reports are a must-read resource for those involved in facilities planning and management. Reports include management case studies, current and in-depth project profiles, and editorials on the latest facilities management issues.

Oregon State University Builds the First Mass Plywood Lab Building in the U.S.

Published 9/16/2025

Mass timber construction is widely lauded for its sustainability benefits, including wood’s natural carbon sequestration, lower embodied energy footprint, lighter weight as compared to steel or concrete, and essential renewability. But does it pay off in terms of a university’s performance standards and cost concerns when embarking on a project as ambitious as Oregon State University’s Jen-Hsun and Lori Mills Huang Collaborative Innovation Complex, a $213 million, 143,000-sf facility dedicated to advanced programs in artificial intelligence, robotics, energy, and materials science? Scott Ashford, OSU’s dean of the College of Engineering, and Libby Ramirez, the university’s resident architect, argue that with careful strategy and an eye toward the data, the answer is “yes.”

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Animal Laboratory Design has Advanced. Has Your Lab?

Published 9/2/2025

State-of-the-art labs are more efficient, cheaper, and more pleasant for the animals housed there than older designs. Despite all these advantages, most labs are decades out of date, say laboratory architect Jeff Zynda of Perkins&Will and laboratory veterinary consultant John J. Hasenau. The longtime collaborators point out that outdated labs are missing out on a broad range of improvements—from more efficient HVAC systems to a deeper understanding of light spectrums to better cage design—that are more comfortable for the animals, more useful for the scientists, and less expensive to operate.

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Incorporating Advanced Labs into Urban Commercial Buildings

Published 8/19/2025

Designing and building labs in the unlikely and constrained location of the prestigious Pacific Design Center (PDC) with Hollywood as a backdrop is a daunting task, requiring adherence to quality expectations, facilities management guidelines in a non-research environment, separation from existing high-end tenants, and compliance with infrastructure requirements. Cedars-Sinai, one of the largest nonprofit medical centers in the U.S., accepted the challenge after deciding to expand its research portfolio. Growing beyond its limited campus is necessary to accommodate the rapid growth of its research facilities and to aid in recruiting top scientists by providing innovative facilities with optimum resources. Hospital officials looked a half mile from their campus to the PDC, a designated cultural resource building complex designed by Cesar Pelli in the 1970s. Known in the 1980s and 1990s as a vibrant hub of premier art, design, and architectural showrooms, many of the tenants now have online shops rather than physical space in the cluster of buildings, leaving vacancies available for lease and an opportunity for Cedars-Sinai’s growth.

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