Planning for Collaboration and Change in Lab Design
The University of Missouri is designing and constructing an Energy Innovation Center, slated to open in 2028. Image: Courtesy of the University of Missouri
The University of Missouri’s forthcoming Energy Innovation Center (EIC) is more than just a 116,000-sf research facility — it’s a blueprint for how to plan, design, and future-proof a multidisciplinary lab building to meet evolving technological, environmental, and societal demands. Slated to open in 2028, the EIC will unite researchers from engineering, physics, computer science, chemistry, biochemistry, policy, law, agriculture, and business to tackle urgent energy challenges.
From its earliest vision to its technical design strategies, the EIC offers clear, actionable takeaways for other institutions pursuing large-scale, cross-departmental facilities.
Build the case around external impact
When dean of engineering Marisa Chrysochoou and her team sought Board of Curators approval, they made sure the EIC’s purpose resonated far beyond the university. “We built the case for the Energy Innovation Center by tying it directly to statewide priorities—energy security, economic development and workforce readiness—positioning it as a driver of innovation in nuclear, biofuels, hydrogen, and grid modernization,” Chrysochoou says.
For other institutions, this underscores a critical point: frame your proposal in terms of how it will solve real-world problems, not simply serve internal needs. Chrysochoou advises starting “with a bold, mission-aligned vision” and tailoring messaging to different audiences — academic leaders, industry partners, funders, and policymakers — while showing measurable outcomes and a plan for long-term sustainability.
Engage end users early and often
One of the strongest threads in the EIC’s planning process is the iterative involvement of faculty, students, and staff in shaping the design.
“We hosted faculty panels to gather input on initial building layout and strategies to enhance collaborations,” says Christopher Ave, director of media relations and public affairs. “Later, we hosted more faculty panels to zero in on the best design for the laboratories themselves. We then hosted a panel of graduate students to discuss the spaces designed for the students. We also engaged several staff members for similar design considerations. Now that the building is approved, we will likely host more faculty panels to finalize the building layout.”
The design team—PGAV+LMN—also benchmarked leading global interdisciplinary facilities and conducted detailed faculty surveys to identify research space, infrastructure, and regulatory needs. They engaged “surrogate” faculty researchers representing each research district to develop adaptable lab suites. This approach allows opportunities for multiple rounds of feedback to refine layouts, support spaces, and infrastructure as the program evolves.
Design for flexibility from day one
The EIC’s research community will evolve, so the building is designed to evolve with it. Labs are grouped into “research districts” and “neighborhoods” that can expand, reconfigure, or change function without major renovations.
Key strategies include:
Modular laboratory planning using a standard 11’ x 11’ grid for interchangeability.
Moveable, height-adjustable benches with quick-connect utilities.
Service corridors that double as infrastructure spines for easy MEP upgrades.
Oversized ductwork, piping, and cable trays to accommodate future increases in capacity.
Ave notes, “ The strategies of keeping the building floorplates as open as possible and providing flexible building MEP infrastructure are intended to minimize future disruption and simplify the addition/creation of secure areas for intellectual property protection, SCIFs, clean spaces, biological safety labs, and other specialized spaces that may be required as research needs evolve and change.”
Plan for phased occupancy
Because the EIC will not be fully occupied upon opening, the team is implementing a phased fit-up approach — meaning some research spaces will be left as flexible shells until the right faculty are in place. This avoids overbuilding or committing to specialized infrastructure before knowing the exact needs of incoming researchers.
Laboratory space allocations are based on an anticipated PI count per research district and a blend of disciplines — chemists, materials scientists, physicists, and data scientists — but the specific mix will evolve over time. As faculty are recruited, lab spaces can be fitted out with the right combination of open multi-PI team labs or enclosed, environmentally isolated labs, along with tailored support rooms for specialized equipment.
From a capital planning perspective, this approach stretches the budget further while ensuring purpose-built functionality. By keeping floorplates and MEP infrastructure open and oversized, the EIC team is effectively future-proofing the facility while avoiding costly renovations later.
For other institutions, phased occupancy can be a strategic tool to:
Match investments to recruitment milestones, so funding aligns with actual program growth.
Maintain flexibility to pivot toward emerging research areas.
Reduce waste from prematurely installed systems that may go unused or require rework.
It’s a tactic especially well-suited to multidisciplinary research environments, where the balance of specialties—and the technologies they require—can shift quickly.
Support interdisciplinary work with spatial adjacencies
The EIC’s spatial layout is deliberately engineered to break down silos and foster day-to-day interaction between disciplines. Its vertical organization collocates experimental labs, data science suites, and policy-focused researchers on the same floors, with direct lines of sight and physical pathways connecting them.
Graduate student write-up zones are positioned with direct adjacency and visibility into research labs, enabling easy movement between bench work and analysis while enhancing safety by ensuring food and drink stay outside lab environments. These spaces are designed for use by students from multiple PI teams, creating a “research neighborhood” feel that supports collaboration beyond a single discipline or project.
“Deliberate collocation of experimental, data, and policy researchers will support long-term development of holistic approaches to problem definition and problem solving between and amongst MU research teams,” says Ave.
Proximity is paired with intentional gathering spaces. Each research floor integrates informal kitchens, centrally located conference rooms, and open collaboration zones. The building’s central community core serves as a flexible work, study, and event space — a hub where faculty, students, and visiting collaborators can exchange ideas. This central space also provides a highly visible showcase for the work happening within the EIC, reinforcing the center’s identity as a place of innovation.
The design recognizes that innovation is as much about unplanned conversations as it is about formal meetings. By ensuring researchers from different domains share physical space—and by providing appealing places to linger—the building increases the likelihood of these productive, serendipitous encounters.
Engineer for both current and future performance
A facility dedicated to energy innovation must embody high performance in its own systems. The EIC’s infrastructure is robust by design:
100 percent outside air for all labs, with independent general and fume hood exhaust systems.
Vibration criteria that support sensitive research without over-designing the entire structure.
Emergency generator power for critical lab loads.
Telecommunications and data backbone designed for AI and cybersecurity research.
Sustainability measures include low-flow fume hoods, active air quality monitoring, exhaust air energy recovery, daylighting controls, and integration of solar PV and thermal systems.
From hydrogen research to cybersecurity, the EIC team is planning for potential technological, environmental, and regulatory disruptions decades in advance. Flexible infrastructure will allow for secure spaces, SCIFs, clean rooms, or biological safety labs to be added without overhauling core systems.
Expect and manage cultural differences between disciplines
Large, cross-departmental projects aren’t just a technical challenge; they’re a cultural one.
“One challenge is working with groups from different units,” Ave notes. “Each type of researcher has different ideas of how collaboration should work and how best to optimize interactions. Thus, extra work is required to find the right building concept to appeal to everyone involved.”
The takeaway here is that time spent on consensus-building is as important as time spent on design drawings. Building trust and alignment early will save costly redesigns later.
Finally, the EIC aims to remain relevant not just through flexible labs and sustainable infrastructure, but by cultivating an enduring research community.
“A key concept for the EIC is to create a research community through sustained interactions between researchers over time, a primary driver in innovation,” Ave says.
This long-term vision is supported by deliberate colocation of disciplines, a strong central gathering space, and visibility between work zones. For other institutions, this is a reminder that buildings don’t innovate — people do. The architecture should make those people’s interactions inevitable and productive.
The EIC represents a thoughtful balance of mission-driven storytelling, inclusive planning, flexible technical design, and community-oriented architecture. Its lessons apply whether you’re designing a specialized energy lab or a multidisciplinary innovation hub:
Anchor the vision in real-world impact.
Involve users early and repeatedly.
Plan infrastructure and layouts for adaptability.
Design spaces that invite interdisciplinary collisions.
Build the social and technical framework for longevity.
By 2028, the Energy Innovation Center will be a physical reality. But for lab planners and institutional leaders, the strategies behind its creation are available now—ready to help power the next generation of transformative research spaces.
