I love watching TED (Technology Entertainment and Design) videos, and through the years I have followed great speakers that have been an inspiration for me. During 2012 I started thinking about how those great ideas and concepts could be applied to what I do as a laboratory planner and designer. This started after a good friend suggested I watch Andrew Stanton and his talk about the clues to great stories. I am always looking for inspiration to improve my presentations on animal research...

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I was recently invited to participate in a conference in South America about animal science. During my visit I spoke with people who share my passion for animal care, animal welfare and science research buildings. I realized that even though we all have the same goals, those people in countries where laboratory planning and design is an emerging building trend need a whole lot more motivation and inspiration to do what they are supposed to do every day because the challenges are much larger....

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In my second post I described the basis of design (BOD), or in other words, the “what.” In this post I will discuss the Owner’s Project Requirements (OPR), the “how.” While the BOD is more specific in nature, , the OPR is more descriptive and describes “how” the project should be completed. For example, the BOD may describe the project as a laboratory renovation on the ground floor of the facility, but the OPR will note that the project will be completed as phase three of a seven phase master...

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The ASHRAE Guideline 0-2005, The Commissioning Process, defines commissioning as "a quality-focused process for enhancing the delivering of a project….verifying and documenting that the facility and all of its systems and assemblies are planned, designed, installed, tested, operated and maintained to meet the Owner Project Requirements.”

Commissioning has historically been associated with the operational functions of a facility, including the air handling system, electrical systems, the exhaust...

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Matt Weyer, BSA LifeStructures Director of Systems Engineering in St. Louis, was named one of Consulting - Specifying Engineering magazine’s 40 under 40 winners. The list recognizes professionals under the age of 40 who are shaping the engineering industry. The recipients are selected based on the impact they have made in not only their industry, but in their community as well.

Matt graduated from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and has gone on to become the youngest director of engineering...

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Indiana University and Purdue University officials broke ground on the new Science and Engineering Laboratory Building in the heart of the IUPUI campus on Thursday, March 28. The new building, designed by BSA LifeStructures, will serve to strengthen the university’s life and health sciences mission. 

The building combines both academic and research space, creating a dynamic home for both learning and discovery. IUPUI has seen an increase in demand for healthcare related areas of study, making the...

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In the laboratory planning discipline, we frequently discuss the concept of flexible research environments with clients. When applying the concept of flexibility to animal facilities, we ask ourselves another question, "Is it possible to plan and design a facility that can serve the client's research needs for over 30 years, respond to the needs and research modalities of a variety of users and endure the evolution of science and technology?"

The answer is yes. 

The reality is that most of these...

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The growth of laboratory renovation projects in universities has various drivers, not always linked specifically to the state of the economy. When institutions grow, expand, build new or when they update space, there can be space management issues to deal with. One of the aspects we continually see is the desire to establish parameters and standards to effectively complete laboratory renovations.

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I was thinking the other day about when I started designing building systems some 35 years ago. Working on laboratory planning and design, science building design, and health care facility design, was simpler then. However, the more I thought about it the more I realized that it wasn’t “simple”. It was all we could do to use the tools at our disposal. Calculating life cycle cost analysis by slide rule or using the first generation calculators, opening reference books to study tables full of...

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Evidence-based design (EBD) has been widely known for years in the healthcare industry. In recent years there has been a strong and compelling case for architects to apply the concept of EBD to all services and markets.

The Center for Health Design, defines EBD as “the process of basing decisions about the built environment on credible research to achieve the best possible outcomes.” As a definition, it can be applied to all markets, and it makes sense to everyone who is involved in planning and...

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Without a doubt, there is a lot of pressure for laboratory planners and designers to bring to the table the "state-of-the-art" ideas. In fact, most architecture and engineering full-service design firms promote state of the art as something that it is provided on a regular basis.

Before applying what state-of-the-art means in the design and construction field, let's examine the definition that Wikipedia gives on this term:

The state of the art is the highest level of development, as of a...

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