Animal Research

Utah State University is constructing a new facility for the College of Veterinary Medicine to advance animal health, biomedical sciences, and public health. The 106,000-sf Veterinary Medical Education Building will accommodate growing programs and drive groundbreaking research, providing comprehensive training for the professionals needed to support Utah’s agricultural sector. Representing an investment of approximately $77 million, the state-funded structure will offer an additional 4,055 sf of lab space between two teaching labs.

Though universities may update master plans every five or 10 years, many find planning works best when it is continual and flexible to accommodate program and leadership changes. A number of projects at the University of North Texas Health Science Center (HSC) in Fort Worth demonstrate the need to assess existing spaces and develop plans for growth and flexibility, as well as the benefits of building long-term relationships with architects and other vendors.

The Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials (Centro Nacional de Pesquisa em Energia e Materiais) is constructing Orion, a BSL-4 laboratory complex in Campinas. Enabling the detection, study, and mitigation of pathogens and infectious disease agents, the USD185 million project will reinforce national sovereignty in response to current and future health crises and promote collaboration with the global scientific community.

The successful decarbonization of labs and other critical science environments to increase energy efficiency, occupant safety, and annual savings requires a goal-oriented project team with the cultural mindset to adopt effectual technology/engineering processes, procurement strategies, and incentive-based outcomes. Science and engineering facilities often encounter substantial obstacles, such as cost restraints, safety issues, restrictive regulations, and tight deadlines, when completing the massive energy transition necessary to decarbonize their labs. 

Ohio University began construction in January of 2025 on the $75 million Heritage Translational Research Center (HTRC) in Athens. Designed by Perkins&Will and DesignGroup, the 80,000-sf facility will consolidate laboratories and operations currently dispersed across campus, creating a collaborative ecosystem for clinical innovation. The four-story structure will provide bench space for translational biomedical research, as well as labs and support spaces for population health and clinical research.

Texas Biomedical Research Institute (Texas Biomed), home to North America’s largest baboon population dedicated to research, has opened a new primate research facility focused on animal welfare, human safety, and operational efficiency as guiding principles. The new Animal Care Complex (ACC) includes three modular breeding and holding facilities, each with a capacity of up to 300 animals of multiple species. The spacious facility has five indoor rooms which range from 400 to 800 sf, and outdoor yards as big as 5,500 sf. 

Clemson University broke ground in November of 2024 on the Harvey S. Peeler Jr. College of Veterinary Medicine in Clemson, S.C. Addressing a critical shortage of veterinarians in the state and the nation, the $285 million project will enable a distributed pedagogical model that prepares students to go directly to local animal hospitals for training and clinical study.

Texas A&M University is planning to construct the Clinical Veterinary Teaching & Research Complex in College Station. Page is partnering with associate architect Foil Wyatt on the design of the $181 million facility, which will advance veterinary education and drive groundbreaking medical research. Offering world-class primary care, the project will also provide sophisticated environments for student training and areas for clinical trials.

The vision of biomedical research as a collective effort is resoundingly clear in the $237.5 million Pelotonia Research Center, the first building to be completed in the 350-plus-acre Carmenton district on the campus of The Ohio State University (Ohio State) in Columbus. Opened in May 2023, the center integrates almost 100,000 sf of wet labs, 25,000 sf of computational labs, and 20,000 sf of core labs in a single facility designed to host interdisciplinary collaborations and public-private initiatives that focus on solving some of the most critical health challenges. With life science as the backbone of the research endeavor, current projects range from modeling cancer progressions to 3D printing of patient-specific anatomic models. 

How do you know if an existing building has what it takes to house a new specialty laboratory? The planning effort has to go beyond the typical process for a conventional lab renovation of defining program needs and investigating existing conditions. It must instead drill down into the unique aspects of the specialized environment, including illuminating the key attributes of the already-occupied and operational facility. 

Allentown, a premier provider of animal housing solutions, is partnering with The Jackson Laboratory (JAX) to launch a revolutionary home-cage mouse monitoring system powered by AI and machine learning (ML). This strategic collaboration is designed to accelerate preclinical research and improve the translatability of preclinical readouts to clinical applications.

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. 

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.

The State of Missouri broke ground in June of 2024 on a $151 million project that will collocate five agencies in one integrated location. Designed by Multistudio, the 208,000-sf facility will provide laboratories and support spaces for the departments of agriculture, natural resources, conservation, and health and senior services, as well as the Missouri State Highway Patrol. This centralized hub will enhance operational efficiencies by creating an ecosystem of resources that will optimize the delivery of analytical services.

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.