Animal Research

At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), which ranks 11th in the nation in research expenditures, the question of how to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) into research facilities is no longer theoretical—it is urgent. The institution operates a vast and diverse research enterprise across multiple buildings. That scale, combined with rapid shifts in federal science policy, has prompted a fundamental reassessment of how research infrastructure is designed, operated, and managed.

The University of Florida opened the Whitney Marine Research Center in April of 2026 in Marineland, Fla. Designed by Lord Aeck Sargent and TTV Architects, the $41.2 million facility more than doubles the available research space for the Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience while expanding capacity for education and conservation efforts. The 38,000-sf building features 12 leading-edge labs, a dedicated microscopy area, aquaculture venues, and a maker space equipped with 3D printers and laser cutters.

LSU Health Shreveport (LSUHS) is planning to begin construction in January of 2027 on the Research Expansion Project. Designed by Flad Architects in association with Prevot Design and Sutton Beebe Babin Architects, the strategic development will create a new hub for biomedical discovery through the adaptive reuse of an existing 181,000-sf mall. The first $90 million phase of renovation will transform 92,500 sf of space to house the Cancer and Cardiovascular Research Facility.

Colorado State University is approaching the completion of construction on the 420,000-sf Veterinary Hospital and Education Complex (VHEC) in Fort Collins. The $230 million redevelopment project was designed by Clark & Enersen to enable a dynamic pedagogy that focuses on team-based learning, hands-on training, and strategies for personal resilience. A 213,000-sf addition will house a new primary care clinic providing medical, dental, ophthalmological, and pharmacy services, as well as emergency, urgent, and critical care.

The Ohio State University opened the Multispecies Animal Learning Center (MALC) and a new dairy in Columbus in January of 2026. The $60 million complex was designed by Wellogy as an integrated hub for teaching and research that enables the next generation of animal sciences education. Spanning 100,000 sf, MALC provides the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences with leading-edge classrooms and demonstration areas where students participate in a dynamic pedagogy of experiential engagement.

The New York State Department of Health has begun construction on the new Wadsworth Center, a $1.7 billion public health laboratory that will transform the state's ability to detect, prevent, and respond to emerging threats. Designed by HOK, the state-of-the-art facility will consolidate five legacy sites across the Greater Albany area into a single, modern campus. The five-story, 663,000-gsf project is strategically located on the W.

The ideal lab building can flex over time to accommodate each new generation of researchers, with minimal disruption and infrastructure change. Using an approach called the “resilient chassis,” labs are grouped by typologies and placed around a common spine or “chassis” of mechanical/electrical/plumbing (MEP) systems based on zoning and capacity needs. The best location for each lab is determined by grouping labs together that share specialized requirements, such as vibration sensitivities, noise restrictions, lighting or electrical requirements, and instrumentation needs. 

Faced with growing demand to do more with less, animal laboratory managers are looking for opportunities to drive greater efficiencies. One way forward is the use of digitalization to improve energy efficiency as well as asset and space utilization. But tight budgets, the need to improve data collection and analysis, and insufficient numbers of staff trained to operate the new systems are all holding back adoption, according to experts at Siemens Smart Infrastructure. 

When it was proposed in 2019, repurposing underutilized space at the University of Georgia for an industry partner’s fermentation lab appeared to be a good deal for everyone involved. It was a win for the pharmaceutical company that wanted to contract with the university to help it develop new products and needed a fermentation lab that met, at a minimum, biosafety level 2 (BSL-2) standards. It was a plus for staff at the university’s Bioexpression and Fermentation Facility who would perform the work. It represented an advance for the university that wanted to form new industry relationships and had available space at its Athens, Ga. campus inside the Animal Health Research Center (AHRC). And it was a win for the AHRC, a 75,000-sf biocontainment facility that would host a new industry partner in addition to other laboratories performing BSL-2, animal biosafety level 2 (ABSL-2), biosafety level 3 (BSL-3), animal biosafety level 3 (ABSL-3), and animal biosafety level 3-agricultural (ABSL-3Ag) research work.

Coriell Institute for Medical Research broke ground in October of 2025 on a 92,000-sf life sciences campus in Camden. Created in partnership with NJEDA, the Lewis L. Coriell Medical Research Center will advance the frontiers of biomedical science to catalyze critical breakthroughs in cancer treatment, stem cell technology, epigenetics, and drug discovery. 

Rowan University opened the Shreiber School of Veterinary Medicine in October of 2025 on its West Campus in Mullica Hill, N.J. Supported by $75 million in state funding, the pioneering facility addresses an increased national demand for veterinary professionals and advances the wellbeing of animals and humans in alignment with the One Health initiative.

The University of North Texas is constructing the Science and Technology Building on its Denton campus. Designed by SmithGroup, the $109 million facility will serve the College of Science, the College of Engineering, the College of Health and Public Service, and other departments and programs.

Optimizing facilities is about the people and animals inside the buildings just as much as it is about the buildings themselves. As a facility with a One Health focus, University of Washington (UW) vivariums operate within the framework that humans, animals, and the environment are interconnected, and that caring for one means caring for the other two. While the concept behind One Health has informed the global scientific community since the beginning of modern medicine, the term and its application to vivarium facilities management is relatively new. 

More and more universities are building their scientific research centers around cores of huge, heavy, yet surprisingly delicate equipment. Building a core laboratory facility forces architects and campus planners to think about logistics, timing, and backup systems to a level of detail probably more familiar to NASA engineers than institutional architects. As the team behind Emory University’s new Health Sciences Research Building II (HSRB-II) learned, a huge range of factors—in their case, everything from the amount of rebar in the flooring to the width of the corridors to shipping velocity on the Suez Canal—must be reckoned with before such a facility is completed.

Tuskegee University broke ground in September of 2025 on an expansion to the College of Veterinary Medicine in Tuskegee, Ala. Designed by Flad Architects, the pioneering development will greatly expand the institution’s clinical capabilities and consolidate critical support services to a single site, increasing efficiency and ensuring the delivery of the highest level of care.