Interdisciplinary Research

The Sam and Ann Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies at the University of Texas Health in San Antonio illustrates the pivotal role location plays in enhancing the success of an internationally recognized research program. The Institute previously occupied two buildings at a research park 23 miles from the university’s main campus. University administrators wanted to collocate all research on the same campus to promote multidisciplinary collaboration and interaction, with proximity to all clinical research activities, and to promote efficiency and the shared use of resources. 

After a 2017 fire sped up the timeline for construction of a new science building, University of Delaware faculty and staff needed to make hard choices about how the building should be organized and what features and facilities it should include. Politically, the easiest path would have been to divide the space by department, but Peter Krawchyk, the university’s vice president of facilities and university architect, had a different idea of how to make the decision, one he argued would work better: “We didn’t begin with any kind of programming—number of principal investigators, fume hood counts, or anything like that. We began with ideas and culture.” 

The University of Tennessee opened the $93 million Agriculture and Natural Resources Building in Knoxville in August of 2024. The four-story, 161,862-gsf facility provides the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources with both interdisciplinary and specialized lab environments for teaching, research, and public service. Designed by Barber McMurry Architects and Lord Aeck Sargent, the four-story development includes 25 labs, 11 flexible classrooms, lecture halls, and offices.

The University of California, San Diego will begin construction on the Multidisciplinary Life Sciences Building in fall of 2024. Designed by Flad Architects, the 200,000-sf project will be the first campus development that collocates health science research with biological science research and teaching. The multiuse facility advances the university's goal of fostering unprecedented inter-unit partnerships.

Virginia Tech opened the $70 million Undergraduate Science Laboratory Building in Blacksburg in August of 2024. ZGF Architects designed the flexible and adaptable facility to address the current and future needs of the College of Science, the College of Engineering, the College of Natural Resources and Environment, and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Offering 26 wet, dry, and specialty labs, the four-story, 102,746-gsf structure features a maker space with both wet and dry functionality called the Discovery Suite.

The decreasing amount of time researchers spend in their labs is changing research facility design and space allocation, with an increased need for lab support space, a more significant reliance on core facilities, the creation of additional write-up and data analysis environments, and the purposeful inclusion of collaboration spaces.

Texas Tech University opened the $112.5 million Academic Sciences Building in Lubbock in August of 2024. Enhancing the student experience with new venues for active learning and exchange, the 130,000-sf facility was designed by BGK Architects and EYP Architecture & Engineering (now a Page company). The three-story structure provides teaching and laboratory space for five departments: chemistry and biochemistry, physics and astronomy, biological sciences, geosciences, and psychological sciences.

GPI Companies opened a Class A facility in July of 2024 that will be occupied by the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). Offering collaborative resources for numerous programs, the 112,000-sf building will serve as a vibrant destination for innovation, lifelong learning, and workforce training. Both the Division of Extended Studies and UC San Diego Health Sciences will occupy space in the five-level structure, which includes a café on the ground floor.

The University of North Texas at Dallas is constructing the $100 million STEM Building to provide current and future students with expanded learning opportunities in the sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Stantec is providing integrated design services for the 128,000-sf facility, which will offer up to 20 general purpose “high-flex” classrooms, nine teaching labs, three research labs, and numerous collaboration spaces. Adaptable wet labs will leverage modular infrastructure to accommodate a variety of biology and chemistry courses.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham broke ground on the Biomedical Research and Psychology Building in late June of 2024. Designed by Williams Blackstock Architects, the $190 million development will provide the Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine and the Department of Psychology with wet and dry research environments and associated support spaces. The flexible and adaptable facility will incorporate activity-based layouts that enable users to access diverse work platforms that enhance creativity and productivity.

The University of Louisiana at Lafayette broke ground in July of 2024 on a $55 million facility that will house the newly established Engineering Center of Excellence. Designed by Holly & Smith Architects and The Sellers Group, the Engineering Student-Centered Collaborative Building will offer 65,000 sf of learning and research space spread over three levels. A vibrant first floor with a 5,000-sf maker space will include an interactive stair that leads up to a second-level collaboration zone for group projects and club activities.

Carnegie Mellon University is constructing the $100 million Robotics Innovation Center in Pittsburgh. Designed by Perkins Eastman, the three-story, 150,000-sf facility will feature reconfigurable high-bay labs and flexible R&D venues that address robotic systems at different scales. Open wet labs will allow interdisciplinary teams to engage in group projects, supported by a range of specialized shops and instrumentation suites.

The University of Southern California is planning to break ground in late 2024 on the $315 million Discovery and Translational Hub on its Health Sciences Campus in Los Angeles. Designed by SmithGroup, the seven-story, 250,000-gsf building will provide advanced biomedical research environments in a ratio of 75 percent wet lab to 25 percent dry lab. Sited atop two additional levels of subterranean shell space, the 150,00-asf facility will include collaboration areas, offices, meeting venues, a biorepository, and a core lab for medicinal chemistry.

Brown University began demolition in summer of 2024 to make way for the Integrated Life Sciences Building (ILSB) in Providence’s Jewelry District. Standing seven stories high, the 300,000-sf facility will provide six levels of wet and dry laboratories for research programs in biology, medicine, neuroscience, bioengineering, and public health. TenBerke and Ballinger designed the center with a publicly accessible ground floor that will offer a forum, gallery, and café.

Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., is a highly collaborative organization at the forefront of both research and clinical care, with 20% of clinical faculty supporting research studies and 12,000 studies under way at any given time. A central paradigm of its translational research workplace is a “condo” model, where a group of investigators with a well-defined mission elect to share research space and equipment to foster collaboration and innovation. Now, a recent initiative is harnessing data in new ways to build upon and expand the power of the condo to advance Mayo Clinic’s mission for decades to come.