How to design a laboratory
The sequence, the decisions and the constraints that shape every laboratory project, written for the people commissioning one rather than the people drawing it.
Where to start
A laboratory is designed from the inside out
Ordinary buildings begin with the envelope and fit the function inside. Laboratories work the other way: the protocols determine the equipment, the equipment determines the services, the services determine the structure, and only then does the building take shape. Getting that order wrong is the most common and most expensive mistake in lab projects.
1. Define the science
List the protocols that will run, the equipment they need, the volumes and the hazards. Everything downstream, hood counts, bench metres, exhaust volumes, containment, follows from this.
2. Zone before you plan
Separate clean from dirty, quiet from noisy, wet from dry, people from samples. Zoning decided early prevents the cross-traffic that plagues badly planned labs.
3. Size the services honestly
Ventilation, gas, power and drainage are the real cost drivers. Under-sizing forces a rebuild; over-sizing wastes capex and runs up energy bills for decades.
4. Plan the non-lab space with the lab
Write-up, office, meeting and amenity space is close to half a typical R&D floor plate. Designing it later is how projects lose coherence. See why one scope beats a split scope.
5. Design for the standard you will be audited against
NABL, GLP, GMP and ISO 14644 change layout, finishes and airflow. Compliance retrofitted is compliance paid for twice. See the standards Arena designs to.
6. Leave room for the next programme
Modular casework, mobile benches and quick-connect services let the lab change without a shutdown.
Thirty minutes with a lab design specialist is usually worth more than another article.