Space Use

Repurposing non-research facilities to house specialized life sciences and therapeutics labs is a growing trend sparked by real estate inventory and the fiscal practicality of renovation rather than new construction. The vacancy rate throughout the United States for lab space in the fourth quarter of 2022 was 6 percent versus 19.5 percent for office space, according to the Jones Lang LaSalle real estate transparency index. The vacancy rates for 2021 were less than 4 percent for labs and approximately 15 percent for offices.

Life science laboratories are increasingly embracing the idea of moving into high-rise settings in city centers, filling space in new construction, or renovating office space left vacant, in part, by the many companies opting to continue to work from home following the pandemic. High-rise laboratories in urban settings offer many advantages related to recruiting top talent, the ease of city amenities, and abundant transportation options, says Matthew Decker, AIA, architect for CRB in Plymouth Meeting, Penn. But they also pose challenges, including strict building codes for hazardous materials, and infrastructure concerns that can affect placement of lab equipment, HVAC systems, and utilities.

New teaching facilities for science and engineering stress flexibility and interdisciplinarity, but how much flexibility is appropriate? Michael Lauber, principal at Ellenzweig in Boston, cites three recent university-level projects at Michigan State University, University of Maine, and Rice University to demonstrate how to achieve varying levels of flexibility with lab infrastructure and casework, and how the floorplan can enable occupants to easily adapt their space to ever-changing pedagogical goals in multiple STEM disciplines.

The North Carolina State Legislature often receives requests from its representatives for funding to construct new academic buildings at the state universities in their districts. Lately, it’s been all about STEM facilities. STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) jobs are predicted to increase faster than other kinds of positions in the 2020s, so some requests represent a legitimate response to the need for STEM graduates. But which universities truly need more space? To help them allocate funding sensibly, the University of North Carolina System Office commissioned a statewide study, using an innovative methodology balancing current utilization, building conditions, and future space needs.

The Student Success District is a ground-breaking addition to the University of Arizona’s urban fabric. The design strengthens connections between new and existing structures, activates underutilized spaces, and prioritizes the student experience. The complex project revitalizes the Main Library and the Bear Down Gymnasium, reorients the entry to the Albert B. Weaver Science-Engineering Library, and merges the buildings with a new 55,000-sf Center for Academic Success.

The University of Maryland in Baltimore County (UMBC) is surpassing expectations for student retention, faculty recruitment, and productivity by using active learning, pioneering research models, and new building occupancy criteria in its Interdisciplinary Life Sciences Building (ILSB). The 130,000-gsf building, which opened in 2019, provides 70,000 nasf of flexible research and education space to accommodate current and future students and faculty in the life sciences and biotechnology programs.

The University of Michigan has transformed the way science is conducted and communicated by integrating the Museum of Natural History into its uniquely designed $261 million Biological Sciences Building (BSB). The 312,000-sf building opened for classes in 2018, and the museum opened a year later, facilitating connections between university researchers and the community. More than 200,000 members of the public visited the museum within the first year, underscoring the university’s belief that science is a social, not merely transactional, interaction.

2022 offered a glimpse of what the post-pandemic era might look like, with a redefinition of “workplace” in a hybrid setting; examining the benefits and challenges of renovation vs. new construction; and using data to drive complex facilities decisions. The following are the reports that Tradeline readers found most helpful in 2022, as they focused on strategic space planning in this shifting environment:

Creating an efficient, productive, and safe rodent vivarium of any size begins by determining the current and future needs of both the researchers and the animal care staff. Collecting data from users throughout the process of new construction or renovation ensures the design aligns with their research, equipment requirements, utility specifications, and animal care needs. 

Data-driven tools that objectively measure the utilization and productivity of lab space can provide academic institutions with valuable insights for making key budget decisions about renovation, new construction, and allocation of existing resources. In 2018, space planners at Washington University School of Medicine (WUSM) in St. Louis, Mo., set out to quantify the utilization of wet lab space as part of an effort to achieve ambitious growth and recruiting goals. The process led to the creation of a rolling five-year needs study with annual reporting of lab space utilization and researcher productivity using benchmarked performance metrics. The reporting tool now provides university administrators with accurate, objective data on a yearly basis that helps them better utilize existing resources, improve adjacencies, and validate the potential need for renovations and new construction.

The University of Missouri (MU) has undertaken a major space reduction and relocation project on its main Columbia campus, with a goal of eliminating 1 million gsf by 2024—250,000 gsf more than originally planned. A shortage of maintenance funding prompted the project, as the school faced an $881 million backlog in deferred maintenance and building needs for the affected properties. Over the past 10-15 years, the state has experienced financial challenges resulting in stagnant or reduced maintenance funding, and tuition-generated funding cannot make up the difference needed for proper building maintenance. The Strategic Space Reduction and Relocation Plan will reduce the university’s current deferred maintenance and capital needs backlog by over $200 million and save approximately $9 million in annual operations costs if the stated goals are met. By the end of 2022, MU will have eliminated 623,917 gsf through demolition and divesting of properties.

Among all the questions about the post-COVID workplace, a common realization is taking hold: Organizations must be especially mindful of employee needs in their return-to-office planning. The pandemic upended not just the professional but also the personal side of workers’ lives. One of the things that distinguishes this new era is the much larger role empathy and understanding will play in the design process, says John Campbell, president of the architecture firm FCA. The new workplace will feature a variety of recalibrated space types that are more purposeful, employee driven, and less unitized. 

Collecting “big data” is always a good first step for benchmarking, but the data will benefit facility design only if there is an equally strong system for applying it to make informed decisions. Using a variety of technology tools, Flad Architects of Madison, Wis., has developed what they call a data warehouse, a central place where everyone within their firm can store and evaluate data to use when benchmarking space metrics across all projects in all sectors. Both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods are used to conduct space utilization studies including new sensor technologies that provide a high level of accuracy.

You had a few of those big lecture classes in college—rows of students sitting in tiers, facing an instructor with an overhead projector or maybe a PowerPoint presentation. But recent studies show that students learn better and achieve more when they actively engage in their learning rather than passively listen to a lecture. Higher ed students will likely continue to spend about half their time in lecture halls or large-format classrooms designed for 75, 150, or even 250 people, so universities need to adapt these spaces with improved audiovisual systems and more room per student.

Even before the COVID pandemic, many companies were looking to optimize space and decrease costs. Unum Group, an insurer with international operations, has taken a multi-pronged approach: reducing its on-campus footprint by creating one-size-fits-all work spaces, moving to flex-for-all seating, switching nearly half of its long-term off-campus leases to coworking rentals, and developing a Modo® Labs app for space utilization and company communication. The app offers real-time access to concierge services, online food ordering, and organizational information. In the United Kingdom, employees can also use the app to make seat reservations and ensure they have a desk when coming to the office.