[[bpstrwcotob]]
Grow Without Building: Labs Embrace Smarter, Scalable Upgrades
The U.S. life sciences real estate sector is shifting from expansion to optimization, as companies respond to slowed leasing and rising biomanufacturing demand by investing in low-cost upgrades and smarter space utilization rather than new construction, all while preparing for future flexibility and scalability
What Crime Labs Need Now—and Tomorrow: Insights from Arkansas’ New Facility
The design and construction of the new Arkansas State Crime Laboratory highlight the importance of early user engagement, flexible infrastructure, and careful planning to meet evolving forensic science needs and operational workflows
University of Maine Launches Innovative GEM Research Facility
The University of Maine has broken ground on the GEM Factory of the Future, a cutting-edge research facility designed to integrate sustainable mass timber construction, AI-enabled manufacturing, and robotics within a highly precise, adaptable, and collaborative academic environment
From Fire to Future: How Building X Reunites Researchers
The University of Delaware’s new Building X demonstrates how early end user engagement, flexible lab design, and integrated sustainability strategies can create a resilient, collaborative research facility that meets evolving scientific and campus needs
Water Lab Combines Sustainability, Human-Centered Design to Win 2025 Design Excellence Award
The Aquon Water Research & Analysis Laboratory in Houten, Netherlands—designed by Vakwerk Architecten—won the 2025 Excellence in Sustainable Design Award for its innovative integration of adaptable, energy-efficient systems and biobased materials that prioritize both environmental performance and human wellbeing
Designing Toward Absolute Zero: Practical Strategies for Carbon-Neutral Laboratories
At the 2025 Lab Design Conference, Kristen DiStefano of Atelier Ten and Ryan Velasco of ZGF urged the industry to move beyond net zero and embrace absolute zero carbon design, emphasizing that through passive, all-electric systems, adaptive reuse, renewable energy, and carbon-sequestering materials, laboratories can lead the way in redefining sustainable architecture for high-performance environments
From Concept to Co-Innovation: How Syensqo Built a Future-Ready Biotech Lab
Syensqo’s newly inaugurated microbiology lab in Lyon exemplifies how user-driven design, advanced digital tools, and sustainable construction can dramatically expand testing capacity and accelerate the development of safe, eco-friendly solutions—offering practical lessons for building future-ready laboratory environments
Professional Profile: Jamie Huffman
Lab Design News spoke to Jamie Huffman, science + technology project director at Taylor Design, about how his passion for ecology, design, and human-centered collaboration shapes his approach to lab planning and drives his vision for creating science environments that are both impactful and deeply connected to the natural world
Flexible, Transparent, and Thoughtful: What Lab Planners Can Learn from Umoja Biopharma
Umoja Biopharma’s new Seattle headquarters offers a model for mission-driven lab design, showing how flexibility, biophilic elements, and collaborative problem-solving can create a resilient, future-ready space that aligns with both scientific goals and employee wellbeing
Transforming a Legacy: NIH Renovation Project Honored in 2025 Design Excellence Awards
The NIH has completed a transformative renovation of the E-Wing of Building 10, a 250,000-square-foot adaptive reuse project designed by Perkins&Will that modernizes the historic Clinical Center to support cutting-edge translational research, patient care, and biomedical education—an effort recognized in the 2025 Design Excellence Awards for Whole Building/Holistic Design—Renovated