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The four-story, 72,500-sf Lawrence and Sally Cohen Science Center houses Wilkes University’s departments of Biology and Health Sciences on the second floor; Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Environmental Engineering and Earth Science, on the fourth; teaching labs on the second and fourth floors; and flexible, interdisciplinary research labs on the third. Nearly all Wilkes students will take at least one class in the new facility, which wraps around an existing auditorium on an adjacent building.

To address space utilization and efficiency, especially in a research environment, the best way to make a case for change is with solid data that makes a compelling link to mission effectiveness, but institutions warehouse vast amounts of data that are often left untapped, says Donn Williams, director of facilities and real estate at RAND Corporation.

Texas A&M University’s single-story, 10,000-sf Rollins Urban and Structural Entomology Facility features 3,800 sf of research labs for analyzing and maintaining colonies of ants, termites, and cockroaches, and a general insectary for all other insect colonies, such as bed bugs and stored product pests. Specialized spaces include a genetics/analytical lab and an autoclave.

The organizational structure of a master planning effort can be just as critical as the recommendations the plan ultimately presents. That was a driving principle behind the master plan formulated by the University of Chicago Medical Center in the fall of 2012, as it prepared for a major consolidation and strategic growth in 6 million sf of buildings, including the new 1.2 million-sf Center for Care & Discovery (CCD) clinical facility.

The Integrated Sciences Complex (ISC) at UMass Boston serves as a gateway to the campus and as an interdisciplinary hub for learning and collaboration, providing the university with state-of-the-art research, teaching, and training laboratories. It is the first new academic building on the campus since it opened in 1974.