Changes in the design process can disrupt any industry, whether it is industrial and product design, or space planning and architectural design. It is a universal axiom that a successful design process can manage interruptions without starting from scratch. Mid-term design disruptions may include budget cuts, new leadership, and other changes in laboratory plans.
Modular planning can help customers cope with these challenges. This article will provide examples of how to overcome these situations and provide tips on how lab managers and design teams communicate and collaborate to avoid or recover from such interruptions.
"Modular planning also benefits existing buildings and is a key component to minimize the impact of mid-term disruptions in the design."
The laboratory, where technical requirements and relatively high construction costs are always the primary considerations, is one of the most sensitive building types to damage. Therefore, flexibility in basic space planning is essential and can be achieved by organizing available space on modules, which can be changed during design and after the space is occupied. Setting the laboratory floor as a conventional module complementary to the structural grid of the building is the core concept of modular laboratory planning. For life science laboratories, the module is usually 11' x 30' or 11' x 33', which is recommended by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the comprehensive NIH design requirements manual. Lab planners use a variety of variants, including modules that are 10'-8" wide or as narrow as 10'-6" wide.
An example of collaboration with a confidential genomics research organization highlights the advantages of modular planning. One of the agency's projects involves working with their facility planner to transform an existing large office floor into a laboratory space. Since no specific users were initially identified, the design team worked with "surrogate users" who provided suggestions on the possible composition of laboratory needs. These include a large shared open laboratory with mobile workbenches, as well as dedicated laboratory support rooms for tissue culture, microscopes, instruments, and other support projects. At the end of the document building phase, two user groups appeared to share the space. For one group, the designed space is very suitable; for the other group that uses genome sequencing and CRISPR gene editing technology, some changes are required.
Although the initial layout met most technical needs, the large size and research culture of the CRISPR team led to some improvements. In particular, the requirements for the laboratory support area include a large BSL-2 tissue culture room, a second cold storage room dedicated to protein work, and a suite with a front room for in vivo procedures. Solutions that meet these requirements quickly and efficiently utilize modular planning methods applied to these laboratory support areas, while minimizing interruptions in completing the project design. The agency’s laboratory managers, space planners, and design teams collaborate in interactive workshops, where they can “pick up” and “drop” modules on the floor plan layout—allowing users to comment on the layout reconfiguration in real time. The single-module tissue culture room in the BSL-2 room was doubled, and the half-module general laboratory support area was remapped to one-third of the in vivo kit. The design of long-term flexibility still exists, and it is possible to re-divide the BSL-2 room into separate rooms in the future.
Modular planning is also beneficial to existing buildings and is a key component in minimizing the impact of mid-term interruptions in the design. Designing a laboratory in a building that was not originally built for laboratory use can be challenging, especially when the existing structural grid may be inconsistent with efficient laboratory modules. For example, the work of the Regional Genetics Laboratory in San Jose, California needed to accommodate the 25' x 25' structural grid originally designed for the office project. Implementing the equipment area as a "sliding module" and positioning the structural column to a fixed wall position is a solution for maintaining a flexible laboratory planning module in an unusual building. The importance of this approach was revealed midway through the design, in the transition to a new laboratory leadership position. As part of this transformation, new workflows and equipment methods were implemented. Fortunately, modular planning and robust programming have established a framework that can accommodate these changes without major redesigns.
The initial planning stage is centered on seminars, in which detailed review requirements by room type are recorded in the room data sheet and matched with the room diagram set as the modular planning standard. When the new genetics laboratory leadership requires changes, the room data sheet and room diagram are invaluable in showing the drivers of the initial design. These worksheets are a useful tool to check where the room type can be improved. As with the CRISPR team example above, the overall layout was fine-tuned by swapping the positions of the room modules—getting the technical and workflow improvements that the leadership sought without major interruptions.
"A flexible laboratory can meet diverse operational needs, not only to promote innovation and collaboration, but also to provide flexibility and growth."
The new leadership also brings another priority: cost savings to meet the reduced funding from the COVID-19 pandemic. Focusing on the room type (such as the tissue culture room), rather than each individual instance of the room, is also useful in the room data sheet process. The team checked where the room types could be layoffs, and then implemented these layoffs in each module where the layoffs occurred. Examples include reducing power outlets for future equipment in the laboratory support area, especially if the future equipment is not part of the near-term procurement plan. The number of 42-inch automatic sliding doors in the laboratory support room has been drastically reduced, replaced by 42-inch manual swing doors. It is a trend to use sliding doors more and more in laboratory space. Users of genetics laboratories have been keen on sliding doors to achieve workflow, ergonomics and space saving. However, the consensus reached by the new leadership was to keep the use of these doors where it showed the highest interest. Based on feedback from customers in other laboratories, suggestions for maintaining automatic sliding doors in the tissue culture room were shared, and hands-free door operation improved the frequency of use, pollution control, and material flow. Room modules for other purposes were modified to open doors and included in the plan to save costs.
Even with the same level of leadership and funding, a building of this nature may take years to plan, design, and build. During this period, the initial perception user may not be the person who moved into the building. In this case, if the laboratory does not adapt, a redesign and renovation will be triggered immediately after the building is opened.
In order to solve this problem, modular laboratory workbenches can be used to adapt to research teams of different sizes with different configurations. Likewise, the utility connection embedded in the ceiling service panel in a modular fashion allows more flexibility for different types of research-wet, dry, calculation, etc. This allows an environment that is flexible enough to respond to dynamic demands, while avoiding expensive and disruptive renovations when users move in. This method was used in the preliminary design of the Center for Advanced Materials and Clean Energy Technology at the University of Washington, whose research team has not yet determined.
Flexible laboratories can meet various operational needs, not only driving innovation and collaboration, but also providing flexibility and growth. Essentially, this allows the design team to prepare for the future by using modular utilities and modular furniture, so the space can easily adapt to future research needs.
When planning for future and inevitable interruptions during or after the design is completed, modular planning will help laboratory managers avoid major interruptions and allow the space to adapt flexibly to new research while reducing interference with the surrounding laboratory space. Used in conjunction with the room data sheet, changes are unlikely to affect project costs and schedules, thereby maximizing laboratory efficiency and discovery.
Tags: Lab Design Life Science Pandemic
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