Description
The design parameters for a scientific laboratory and research facility of average size can be used as a guideline when planning research and technology buildings. It goes without saying that simply ticking off basic design parameters will not necessarily point the way to architectural quality. To achieve this, a creative design process which also considers all specific site conditions has to drive the urban and architectural scheme. However, paying little or no regard to the basic parameters discussed here will not lead to an overall sound research building. It would be a mistake to assume that only architects are involved in the design of research buildings – quite the opposite is true. Hence, practical basic knowledge is required more than ever for creating research buildings that will see future users fit for global competition and have their very own sense of identity and place.
A | Urban design and site factors
The individual process that will lead to the choice of a particular site depends on numerous criteria, which may vary with regard to the client (industrial or business client, government) or the specific goals of the project (basic research or applied sciences). The following factors incorporate the most important site-related design parameters:
Professional scientific context
• Cooperation with related facilities, formation of scientific clusters
• Interdisciplinary cooperation
• Promotion of junior talents (students, graduates, doctoral candidates)
General site criteria
• Close proximity to other research facilities
• Good public and local transport connections
• International networking; good national and international infrastructure
airport, train station with inter-city connections)
• Quality of the urban context (strengthening corporate identity)
Technical criteria
• Size of the plot; potential for expansion
• Public planning regulations
• Technical infrastructure/services: heating, water, data, power, fire access etc.
• Specific equipment requirements regarding seismic vibrations, electromagnetic fields, acoustics etc.
• Building ground: load-bearing capacity, contaminations, previous land-refill, existing service systems
Until the seventies, research facilities – single academic institutes, research centres or industrial facilities alike – were mainly developed on detached suburban sites to prevent dangerous effects of toxic emissions and public nuisances such as noise from machinery or traffic. However, with increased regulations for emissions that contemporary buildings have to comply with these restrictions are now superseded. Furthermore, laboratory use of toxic substances could be reduced drastically through methods of measuring that are more precise today than it was ever imagined. Many dangerous substances are replaced by less toxic chemicals; in some cases, laboratory experiments are completely replaced by computer simulations. Hence, integration of industrial and scientific facilities into the urban context has become a reality.
However, recent scientific developments in the fields of nanotechnology have given rise to a whole new generation of machinery and equipment (microscopes, tomography, work benches etc.) that is highly sensitive to electromagnetic, seismic or acoustic influences. These influences have to be thoroughly considered, analysed and incorporated into the planning process on a case-to-case basis. They may even include unobtrusive factors such as rivers (low frequency noise of ships’ bows or screws), distant tramlines (vibrations depending on the rail construction and building ground, or potential electromagnetic fields). Such factors may lead to an overall revision of the choice of location or specific on-site measures concerning foundation work or screening. To address these issues, architects may turn to historical examples, and house special equipment in separate metal-free structures (for example made of timber). Today, the rule is: proximity is possible, provided the neighbouring buildings don’t disturb!
B | Clients and building use
Other crucial factors for the design of research buildings are the nature of the client, the mode of building use, and the point of time the client starts to participate in the planning process.
Client
• Architectural background (architects or engineers)
• No architectural background (scientists, businessmen, lawyers)
• Public client
• Private client
Mode of building use
• Teaching or scientific research (public or private)
• Particular requirements stipulated in the brief
• General distribution of floor area in multi-purpose research facilities
• Future use through the client himself
• Market analysis with a view to future rentals/sales
Point of client participation
• During stipulation of the programme
• At planning/construction stage
• After completion
Fundamentally, all these scenarios follow the typological and technical design and construction parameters for research buildings lined out in this chapter. Differentiation results from the specific type of use and research equipment needed. If no specific requirements were specified, the resulting building would simply provide variable open plan floor arrangements with flexible service installations. Costs for construction and operation of this kind of building would be relatively low. With the increasing complexity and individuality of research buildings the programmes and architectural design of the facilities will also become more complicated, which in turn increases costs. A high percentage of teaching areas and spaces for serial research operations leads to simpler layouts and reduces costs. However, usually these spaces will only represent a fragment of the required programme.
Experienced clients with a relevant professional background may be able to advance the quality of a research building, but may also hamper the creativity of the architect. The issue is to compromise without ruining architectural visions. Scientists are often inclined to repeat tested-and-tried layouts in new buildings; hence, innovative design solutions will need a great deal of convincing and competence.
Public and private research facilities are governed by fundamentally different criteria that are not limited to practical training halls for university institutes or special laboratories for mass analysis in industrial research buildings:
Public research – ”personal focus”
• Directors, the majority of scientists and staff are usually long-term employees and tend to identify with the architecture
• Spaces become a personalised environment; relatively small standard sizes have been imposed on laboratory units (20 to 40 m² net floor area).
• As maximum salaries in the public sector are clearly restricted, employees set greater value upon their working environment, the architecture, furnishings and equipment. This has given rise to a particular public building culture distinguished from private institute buildings.
• As a rule, publicly funded research buildings contain many functions under one roof and constitute self-contained units.
Industrial research – ”material focus”
• Executives and employees tend to move on in their career after a period of time. They feel less attached to their workspaces.
• Size and layout of the spaces follow practical requirements; open plan laboratories frequently occur.
• Corporate research departments form homogenous units within larger facilities. Due to security considerations, they often take a backseat on the company premises. Entrance buildings or other general facilities fulfil representative functions.
C | Building typology
C1 Scientific laboratories – chemistry/biology/physics
The most important part of a research building is the experimental scientific workspace – the laboratory. Laboratories as we know them today – basically they resemble high-tech kitchens – have been around for more than a hundred years. Now, what does a scientist do in a laboratory? He collects, analyses, construes and summarises information in writing. Goals and work results are discussed in small circles or larger groups. These procedures presuppose a certain critical mass of people and work processes. Architects require the following information to design satisfactory research buildings:
• Type and frequency of work processes
• Length and equipment of work desks
• Media supply
• Number of persons working in a laboratory
• Supplementary equipment, on and between work desks
• Daylight/artificial lighting
• Air-conditioning and ventilation requirements
• Fume boards/exhausts for toxic substances
• Number of desks for writing and analysis
• Number of computer workstations
• Layout and planning of service supply
The following graphics show essential design criteria for standard laboratories (approx. 40 m² net floor area) in the three main natural science research fields chemistry, biology and physics. Shown are:
• Work areas
• Fixtures, furnishings and equipment (FF&E)
• Grids
• Structural and fit-out considerations
• Zoning and required areas for apparatuses and technical equipment
A general trend is the direct integration of computer workstations into laboratories. An increasing number of computer workstations will determine future lab layouts. It will change the office ratio in research buildings as well as within laboratories with regard to their quantity, FF&E, the working environment and architectural design. This issue will be discussed in greater detail under the headline Open plan laboratory layouts.
The specific design of laboratories as a modular unit within research buildings follows certain organisational principles. These principles include differentiation, distribution of technical services, variability, flexibility, disentanglement, and the vertical and horizontal arrangement (zoning/stacking) of laboratory spaces.
C2 Concentration of similar units – zoning/stacking
Fundamentally, the design of research buildings is the result of complex and interconnected processes. As a first step, the general typological and functional approach to this complicated issue needs to be defined:
”Research buildings: Combining spaces with different requirements”
Every research project consists of a certain number of different types of spaces with individual characteristics in terms of architectural quality and building service systems. The most common room types are laboratories and offices. The main difference between both types – apart from their function – is the amount of required services and the resulting characteristic interior design. Offices require heating, lighting and electrical high and low voltage power supply and a relatively basic range of furniture. Scientific laboratories, in contrast, may require a high or even extreme amount of technical services. Above all, the ventilation and air-conditioning systems and the specific FF&E schedule require entirely different room dimensions and ceiling heights.
Installation densities in the office space (left) and in the laboratory (right), each represented in schematic floor plan and section
A purely arbitrary or organisation-oriented allocation of offices and laboratories would lead to extremely inefficient research buildings. Therefore, the design has to ensure that spaces with comparable technical requirements form groups or clusters. In this respect, two terms are used: horizontal arrangement – zoning – and vertical arrangement – stacking – of spaces.
Zoning denotes the horizontal arrangement of similar spaces along one or several interior access corridors. The length of sequence depends on room dimensions, an economical layout of service ducts and pipes, and local planning requirements (fire regulations, escape routes, industrial trade control). The following design parameters apply:
• Site dimensions and geometry, legal requirements, location
• Distances between spaces, access system
• Organisation of the institute/company
• Requirements of the brief; functional units
• Spatial requirements resulting from preventive fire regulations:
– Length of escape route or distance between workplaces and required fire stair (according to
local building codes; approx. 25 m)
– Fire compartments (according to local building codes; up to 1,600 m² floor area)
– Too large distances or areas entail costlier installations and supplementary fire protection
devices (fire dampers, barriers etc.)
• Grey water and sewage pipes require a fall of two percent: from a certain length this affects the
ceiling height.
• It must be ensured that practical installation sections can be shut off for revision and maintenance.
• If services run in central shafts, required diameters of ventilation ducts determine the economical
maximal lengths of horizontal service runs.
Stacking denotes the vertical arrangement of identical or similar spaces on several floors. This involves urban planning issues as well as the positioning of service cores. Design parameters are:
• Site occupancy, urban density
• Programme, interior distances, means of vertical access
• Optimised mechanical engineering, shaft layout
• Construction, structure, wind loads, effective lengths
• Maintenance/cleaning, safety
From experience, units with lengths of approx. 25 to 30 m and three to four storeys plus basement and technical equipment on the roof level are considered to be economically viable.
C3 The programme
The total floor area stipulated in a programme is primarily based on the required staff capacity and the whole of scientific apparatuses and equipment. The budget of the project will be mainly measured against these issues. Just as the programme drives the architectural design, results of the planning process may also alter the nature and extent of the programme. Especially in public building, the net floor area is the most important planning criterion. Usually, laboratories are based on an area of 10 to 15 m² per workplace (for standard laboratories with 20 to 30 or 40 to 60 m² respectively). For offices, 6 m² per workplace is standard (for offices of 12, 18, 24 m² etc.). Apart from the number of workplaces sizes of laboratories are more and more determined by the number of writing desks and computer workstations. Additional areas for service and equipment may further increase lab space requirements. Depending on the number of access corridors, layout of service shafts, and the fire protection scheme, room depths can range from 6 to 10 m.
How efficient the room programme is in the long run largely depends on the careful appraisal of the strategic brief. In view of current changes in laboratory design, an initial programming phase with strong participation of scientists, clients and architects alike is very helpful and saves all parties a lot of potential hassle.
As shown in the organisation chart (opposite page), a research building comprises different functional areas such as
– Scientific departments; junior teams
– Shared areas, lecture hall, seminar rooms, library, cafeteria/restaurant
– Administration, computer rooms, workshops, storage
– Special facilities like testing halls, animal enclosures, greenhouses
From a strictly functional point of view, laboratory and office units would be arranged in mixed units.
There is a fundamental conflict between scientific interests and the optimisation of mechanical engineering. If a research building were to follow exclusively scientific requirements it would ensure that the largest possible number of experiments could be conducted in the most efficient way. All required room types – laboratories, offices, test rooms, storage, seminar rooms, administration etc. – would be arranged in mixed units at close range. On the contrary, in a research building primarily following concerns of mechanical engineering, the length of service ducts would be minimised and similar room types would be arranged in clusters according to the amount of required services. All participants of the planning process should work closely together and seek a sensible compromise to avoid these extreme scenarios. The goal would rather be a building that can be constructed and maintained economically and affords spatial and design qualities at the same time.
As a first design step, the programme has to be ordered in three groups with specific characteristics:
• Rooms with daylight for concentrated theoretical research
(low level of mechanical services; office spaces)
• Rooms with daylight and accessible/adaptable services/gear for experimental research
(high level of mechanical services; laboratories)
• Rooms without daylight and with accessible/adaptable services for laboratory equipment and special use
(high level of mechanical services; dark rooms)
From a functional point of view, the scheme also needs to define a hierarchy of the functional areas with primary and secondary areas being the more relevant ones:
• Primary area:
– Theoretical and experimental research
• Secondary area:
– Information, communication (internal, external)
– Administration
– Supply (energy, material, service sector)
• Tertiary area:
– social activities
– housing and leisure facilities for employees and visitors
In the first instance, the ordering of spaces within the primary area into lab spaces and office spaces is important. Also, the relation of primary area (offices and laboratories) and secondary area (supply and support) is significant and opens up new paths in research building design (refer to: C7 Open plan laboratory layouts). A research institute is reminiscent of a living organism with active and passive elements. Apart from the mentioned ”active zones” – the net floor areas – the building also comprises ”passive” areas consisting of secondary spaces that support the main areas. They include circulation, secondary, service and technical areas. The latter are of particular importance (refer to: C5 Technical services).
All spatial requirements of the primary and secondary areas combined determine the typological design approach as to the number of storeys and the number of access corridors per floor (refer to: C6 Plan layout)
C4 Building structure – Service cores and shafts/dimensioning/building physics
Contemporary research buildings are mostly framed reinforced concrete structures with flat slabs without binding beams. The separation of load-bearing structure and building envelope enables a modular layout, fully glazed façades and high general flexibility. Practical disadvantages of these structures such as low thermal mass or sensitivity to vibrations tend to be easily accepted or underestimated. In the future, these potential problems will be addressed more thoroughly. Massive structures will serve more and more as models for the building structures to be used.
Shaft layout
The choice of shaft layout and the dimensioning of shafts bear a strong impact on the path and length of services, ceiling heights, the fire protection strategy, and ultimately on the general building design. The main shaft types are service cores (as part of building cores or located on the outside of buildings) and individual service shafts, or a combination of the two systems.
• Advantages of service cores:
– Few fire dampers, consistent supply, relatively small plant rooms
• Disadvantages of service cores:
– Horizontal service ducts crossing other rooms; service dimensions may affect the ceiling height;
– other rooms might be affected by leakages
• Advantages of individual service shafts:
– Minimal structural ceiling height, short horizontal ducts and a relatively low amount of services in
the respective laboratories
– Individual supply; services can be individually turned off for maintenance
– Sewage pipes do not entail floor slab penetrations
• Disadvantages of individual service shafts:
– Relatively high consumption of floor area; increased number of fire barriers
– Increased floor slab reinforcement required (frequent slab penetrations)
– Limited number of storeys
A generally tried-and-tested scenario is the use of both central cores and individual shafts with a separate allocation of air-exhaust, air-supply and other services. Individual shafts should be chosen if legal, site-related or economical requirements stipulate limited ceiling heights. Central cores are needed for high air quantities (high number of fume cupboards, high air exchange rates). Increased hygienic requirements call for individual shafts (although they are only economically viable up to a maximum of four floors).
Where possible, horizontal service ducts should not be concealed by suspended ceilings. This way, concrete ceiling slabs can function as valuable thermal mass. Exposed services require coordinated planning, which is advantageous in terms of revisions, maintenance, and cleaning.
Dimensioning/grid
The width of lab spaces is determined by functional considerations, whereas the depth follows the dimensions of laboratory furnishings.
Convenient grid dimensions for the width of lab spaces were found to be 1.15 m for the interior fit-out and 6.90 m on centre for the bearing structure. This structural grid provides the most efficient spacing of laboratory workbenches and corridors. It is also in tune with building regulations for laboratory buildings and prevents excessive spare areas. The interior fit-out grid ranges between 1.05 and 1.30 m. The classic interior works dimension is the 1.20 m ”Euro-grid”, which can be reduced to 1.05 m to minimise the cubic content of the building. As common laboratory furnishings are based on 0.6 m / 1.2 m modules, these dimensions also determine the depth of laboratory spaces. Common structural grid dimensions for the depth of spaces, therefore, range between 6.90 m and 7.20 m. Whether architects opt for square or rectangular lab spaces depends on the particular design.
Appropriate laboratory floor-to-floor heights range from 3.80 m to 4.10 m; for offices they range between 2.90 m and 3.40 m. As a rule of thumb, a laboratory height of 4.00 m can be generally assumed as suitable. This dimension can be reduced to 3.80 m if individual shafts are used and only small air quantities have to be handled (one or two fume cupboards per standard lab).
By and large, suspended ceilings should be avoided except for particular cases such as high safety requirements, clean room conditions, or to achieve high air-exchange rates by means of a ventilated ceiling. Office spaces should have a minimum floor height of 3.00 m to obtain pleasant room proportions and enable future changes. Depending on local building regulations, minimum clear ceiling heights are required from certain room areas on.
Office spaces adjacent to laboratories often have the same ceiling heights as the lab spaces. This may entail problems with regard to the acoustics and proportions of these spaces. To solve this problem, offices and laboratories may be built with different ceiling heights. However, this will lead to greater interior distances and constitutes a major design factor that needs to be addressed at the earliest planning stage.
Building physics/indoor climate
Previous projects have shown that circulation areas and studies/offices of research buildings (especially if these buildings contain laboratories) are subject to increased room temperatures (internal heat loads). Especially during summer, users often find the indoor climate unpleasant. Design and planning have to take account of the following:
• As a rule, façades have to be fully protected by exterior solar shading devices, if necessary also in
north-northeast and north-northwest facing directions. Solar protection has to be power-operated
and provide optional central and individual control.
• Usage of thermal mass principles: solid interior walls, exposed concrete ceiling soffits etc.
• The design has to ensure night-cooling by means of underground channels or other measures con-
trollable and in accordance with safety and fire regulations.
C5 Technical service systems – Air-conditioning and ventilation/other building service systems/data and electrical services
From the earliest stage on, it is absolutely essential for architects to have a firm grip on the type and standard of all technical services and their relevance for the architectural design. Ideally, architects will recognise the creative potential of the services to become an integral part of the architectural design that, much like an organism, reflects all dynamic movements within the building. Technical supply and its architectural implementation are guided by the principle of separation or disentanglement. This means that horizontal distribution of services should run on different levels that do not cross each other.
The provision of technical building service systems should be discussed in detail with the users. By all means, arbitrary estimates and excessive installation should be avoided. Instead, binding standards should be agreed on to keep costs at bay. Air-conditioning and ventilation systems require large shaft diameters. Other services like cooling, water, gas and electrical power have to be based on an intelligent, disentangled horizontal and vertical layout. If architects fail to comply with these basic demands they will jeopardize even the most creative design. Technical services will consume about fifty percent of the total building cost of modern research buildings. Therefore, the optimal and coordinated planning and installation of the technical services has a strong influence on initial building expenditures and especially on running costs. It needs to be identified as the key to an economically viable building and as an opportunity to enhance the interior and exterior architectural quality.
Technical equipment has a visual impact on research buildings. This fact is not recognised by many conceptual designs and competition entries, although it becomes fundamental in the later stages of a project. After all, a research building is nothing short of an industrial building with a delivery area, material supply problems and large technical facilities. Thus, from an early stage on architects should observe the following aspects with regard to their design impact. For the different technical building service systems these are:
Ventilation and air-conditioning
• Ventilation and air-conditioning systems in research buildings usually only include air exhausts and supply ducts with three different kinds of air-treatment (filtering, heating, cooling). As desiccant and moisturising treatment is not included, these systems are not air-conditioning systems in the classic sense.
• Most primary floor areas in research buildings – except offices, circulation areas, entrance halls and general areas – are ventilated or ”air-conditioned”. This mainly concerns rooms with a high thermal output, rooms located in central zones and all laboratories.
• Of all trades of the technical services, ventilation and air-conditioning systems have the largest impact on planning and design: positioning of the air handling units, the layout of the vertical and horizontal service ducts, impact on the building volume, the number of storeys and the façade design.
• Ideally, an air intake unit is placed in the basement and an exhaust unit on the roof. Such a configuration can achieve savings in material, shaft dimensions, and energy.
• Air supply in laboratories functions via ducts and nozzles; the air is drawn off via ducts or fume cupboards. The installation has to comply with acoustic and fire regulations.
• Air exhausts and supply openings have to maintain a certain distance to avoid short cuts; they have an impact on the appearance of a building.
• Flaps or openings for maintenance and revisions should be provided.
Other building service systems
Cooling/water cooling
• A cooling system should only be installed if cooling cannot be provided externally (this is generally less expensive and easier to build).
• Cooling is required for ventilation and air-conditioning, but also for process and airflow cooling of scientific experiments with high thermal output. In both cases vertical and horizontal supply is required.
• If supplementary airflow cooling units are needed, the design has to take account of their large dimensions and unpleasant drafts.
• Cooling units are placed in the basement and in roof plant rooms.
• Heat exchangers as part of cooling units are often positioned at roof level. Exterior appearance, noise and formation of steam may lead to legal conflicts with neighbours or could impair the architectural design even if the facilities, strictly speaking, comply with building standards.
• Cooling capacity for laboratory buildings is now of greater importance than ever. In this context, the growing amount of technical equipment with increased thermal output and glazing ratios of façades are crucial factors.
• Potential acoustic and vibration issues arising from the use of heat exchangers or cooling units have to be addressed at an early stage.
• Flaps or openings for maintenance and revisions should be provided.
• The cooling capacity has to be established at an early stage.
Water and sewage
• Water supply: drinking water, grey water, demineralised water
• Usually, laboratory buildings should be equipped with two separate systems for sanitary and laboratory
sewage.
• Rainwater drainage and fire fighting facilities (ponds, drainage trenches) may affect the landscaping
design.
Heating
• From a technical and ecological point of view, the building should rather receive its energy from the public system than from an individual heating station. This centralised form of energy supply is also less expensive.
Gases and chemical substances
• The fundamental question is: centralised or decentralised supply? This will affect the layout of utility lines and floor plan layout. Utility lines for potential supplementary media should be provided.
• There are three options for storage: central storage, secondary storage (for instance per floor), or storage in bottles within laboratories (this solution has to comply with fire and ventilation requirements).
• Nitrogen supply has to be addressed at an early planning stage: Usually, it involves the construction of a separate large tank with attached delivery zone (turning circles of lorries and accessibility are the decisive criteria here).
Electrical services
• To date, electrical services (high and low voltage) consume almost half of the initial building budget for technical building service systems.
• The development of computer technology and increasing technical equipment make it necessary to plan these services at an early stage. Electrical engineering needs to take account of a clean layout that provides the opportunity to integrate further services at a later stage.
• Since the installation of electrical services in access corridors has to meet higher fire protection standards, they mainly run inside rooms.
• In terms of lighting, general light levels and light levels at the individual work places have to be addressed.
• Usually, emergency power supply has to be provided by means of diesel units (note: potential noise and vibrations). Means of charging and required capacity have to be carefully resolved.
• Computer networks usually require a combination of optical wires in certain areas and copper mains for floor distribution. Generally, the data network has to be addressed early on since it bears a certain impact on utility lines and the interior design.
C6 Floor plan layout – Number of access corridors/circulation systems/building typology
Apart from the urban and architectural design strategy the floor plan layout is a crucial factor for the building. Architects should try to achieve compact buildings with well-considered façade areas and floor-to-floor heights as well as acceptable ratios of total floor area to net floor area and total cubic content to net floor area.
Circulation areas facilitate movement, social interaction and transport/supply within a building. Increasingly, the classic lab space is opened up and lab ”cells” are abandoned. Instead, circulation areas are integrated into general open plan or mixed laboratory areas with writing zones, equipment and service pools. Hence, the ratio of circulation areas within buildings will decrease.
Floor plan layouts also have to enable supplementary installation of services and equipment and provide sufficient flexibility to accommodate future changes of technical building standards that cannot be foreseen.
At the preliminary design stage, a comb-shaped layout of the programme might provide initial guidance. The further development of the design depends on the particular site, the basic architectural idea etc. Comb-shaped layouts or T, U and H-shaped variations are appropriate when particular groups of rooms have to meet increased security requirements (for instance biological and genetic laboratories). The spatial separation provided by these figures may also be desirable for individual companies as is the case in business parks. The optimal number of storeys ranges between three and four: less or more storeys generally lead to less economical solutions in terms of the horizontal and vertical floor arrangement and service layout. Today, it is generally agreed on that the air intake plant of a research building with full basement floor should be positioned in the basement and the air exhaust plant should be positioned on the roof; their position should be in vertical line with the highly equipped laboratory areas.
Circulation systems
Distances between laboratories and offices have a large impact on the layout of research buildings. Although the separation of the two room types in individual wings would make economical sense, usually such a scenario is not desirable because it entails long distances between spaces. Architects can choose from various circulation systems and design options:
• Frequently, offices and laboratories are arranged under one roof and on the same floor.
• The arrangement of offices and laboratories in separate building parts linked by bridges etc. open up the opportunity for greater variety in the architectural design, different ceiling heights etc.
• Ultimately, separate buildings – office buildings with standard technical building service systems and highly equipped laboratory buildings – could be erected. This, however, is likely to hamper social interaction and teamwork.
Number of access corridors
The number of access corridors per floor in research buildings varies greatly from single-loaded corridors to two or more access corridors. The classic layout is a double-loaded access corridor with laboratories and offices opposite each other. As a first design step, laboratories, offices, and service rooms arranged along corridors as well as entrance halls or exterior spaces etc. have to be classified and have to be brought into relation to each other. The following charts also highlight the increasing tendency towards open plan spaces and the combination of offices and laboratories. Individual research disciplines are associated with particular layout types (regarding the number of corridors):
• Contemporary chemical laboratories (wet or dry) usually lead to double-loaded corridors. They are equipped with a high number of fume cupboards (two to six per lab); two access corridors per floor are only required if a separate service zone for secondary spaces and equipment and measuring rooms is needed.
• Wet or dry biological, biochemical or molecular biological laboratories can be designed as double-loaded corridor layouts. Yet often, triple-loaded systems are chosen to accommodate the large number of service spaces (equipment, constant-temperature rooms, cool storage, freezing storage, incubators etc.) in central dark zones. The number of fume cupboards is smaller compared to chemical laboratories (one to two per 40 m² standard lab).
• Physical laboratories rather resemble experimental workshops than classic chemical or biological laboratories. There are no or few fume cupboards; laboratory furnishings are only required along the side partitions to make room for experimental installations and apparatuses. State-of-the-art facilities will require racks with integrated sensor measuring and computer equipment and a complex data cable network. Usually, physical laboratories are accessed with double-loaded corridors. Apart from offices and laboratories, frequently experimental halls or large high-tech spaces (for instance microscopy or clean rooms) are needed.
Building typology
Based on the aforementioned parameters, there are three main types of research buildings:
• Linear systems
• Comb-like systems
• Central or core systems
Each system has a variety of sub-types; yet each building is derived from one of the basic types or, for complex buildings, a combination of them. The right choice of layout and circulation system depends on various factors:
• General factors
– Site, legal and planning requirements, urban design
– Programme/brief
– Type and number of workplaces
– Technical services
– Cubic content; economical viability
C7 Open plan laboratory layouts – Combi lab
Especially molecular biological and biochemical laboratories increasingly call for flexible and variable open plan layouts. This development has to be put in context with the current understanding of teaching and research in natural sciences. Although specialised knowledge in the core disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics is still essential, teaching is increasingly based on a multi-disciplinary approach. The same is true for industrial research: working methods of different disciplines converge; pure biological or chemical institutes are a thing of the past. Modern research buildings rather call for a mix of specific programmes and room equipment. Also in this respect, a certain convergence of laboratory types and equipment has to be conceded.
Standard laboratories of 20 to 40 m² with allocated offices and service areas – a layout, which has been common especially in public buildings – are being replaced by open plan arrangements along the lines of mixed-use or Combi lab or ”lab scapes”. Such an open plan arrangement consists of the following areas:
• Circulation areas
• Service areas
• Studies, offices
• Special rooms
– Dark rooms, (cool) storage
– Special laboratories (possibly with noise or toxic emissions)
– Special laboratories for ”copyright” products: cell cultures (biology) or laser products (physics)
• Combi labs comprising
– Individual laboratory work desks
– Service facilities: fume cupboards, washing basins, lockers
– Writing desks
The general revision of laboratory design was brought about by a number of particular factors:
• The overall multi-disciplinary character of contemporary research
• Systematic multi-disciplinary co-operation boosts innovation
• Provision of non-pyramidal, flexible (temporary) work environments
• Economical concerns; cost-benefit analysis
Open plan arrangements provide the following architectural benefits:
• Communicative working environment
• Direct and short distances
• Reduction of circulation areas/corridors (gain in open plan lab floor area)
• Gained areas can be used for storage, lockers, refrigerators etc.
• Simplification of building standards, cost reduction through
– Dispensing with fire safety requirements:
• Simpler layouts of service ducts: ducts can cross without additional fire barriers and encasements
• No fire loads in corridors or escape routes; better storage
– Simpler structure, less walls and doors
• Flexible areas and desk layout for varying organisational scenarios
• Common use of equipment and facilities will create synergy effects among users.
However, open plan layouts also have disadvantages:
• Increase of net floor area
– This theoretical increase has an impact on the evaluation of the building cost per cubic metre
– However, reduced circulation areas will partly compensate for this increase in net floor area. It can
be expected that over time cost evaluations will acknowledge the development towards open layouts.
• Sound insulation
– Laboratories pose potential acoustic problems, especially when large spaces are concerned.
Acoustic insulation is obligatory.
• Anonymous working environment
– Motivation and work results of employees can suffer if open plan working areas are too large.
– Separation of individual areas and variations in the layout can compensate this problem.
All in all, the benefits of mixed open plan office environments clearly outnumber the disadvantages. The initially mentioned conflict between functional considerations and technical issues concerning the mechanical engineering is gradually taken over by the events and has become a ”win-win situation. The current development is moving in the direction of an intelligent mix of open and flexible spaces with a number of economical and architectural benefits that also appeal to the up-and-coming generation of scientists. It is to be expected that the general tendency towards open plan arrangements will continue and eventually prevail both in new projects and conversions (for example, in refurbished institute buildings of the seventies, circulation areas were reduced).
Originally published in: Hardo Braun, Dieter Grömling, Research and Technology Buildings: A Design Manual, Birkhäuser, 2005.