Flexibility and Modularity: How Do These Ideas Add to Sustainability?

Laura Carlson, AIA, LEED^® AP, and Eric Jaffe, AIA, NCARB, Hillier Architecture

The most important way the laboratory itself can be sustainable is by creating a design that will not need to be modified in the future; and if it does need to be modified, it can be done with little to no cost and little to no waste.

Strong communication between team members in the design phase is the first step. If the researchers' needs are well understood and translated into their laboratory design, the laboratories will be able to accommodate the researchers and their work for decades without adding to landfills or adding to operational cost.

Flexibility and modularity are common terms, but can be interpreted differently by different people and create different solutions for different clients and buildings. It is important to determine what kind of flexibility will support the needs of the building occupants, and what effect they will have on both initial and long-term costs. Most flexibility has added first cost, but this can offset long-term costs in the form of renovations. However, having all movable casework not only adds first cost, but in most cases is not necessary and is rarely used to its full potential.

A flexible laboratory can be as simple as creating a standardized modular laboratory: one laboratory design that works for all the researchers in the building. At the Cancer Center for the University of Medicine and Dentistry at New Jersey (UMDNJ) in New Brunswick, New Jersey, Hillier Architecture designed one repetitive modular laboratory that was so successful that after 10 years no changes have been made to the laboratories. Proof to the success of the design was that when an addition was needed for the building, essentially the same design was used for the new laboratories in the addition several years later.

In subsequent building for UMDNJ, an open laboratory design was also used, with some movable casework. The intention here also was to create the best standard design, but also include short-term flexibility. The cabinets can be moved by researchers to accommodate additional researchers or added under-counter equipment.

An open laboratory can also have other benefits to sustainability by creating more plan efficiency; the building can actually be smaller than it might be if cellular laboratories are used. Because researchers are assigned bench space rather than a number of laboratories, more researchers can fit in a smaller space. Open laboratories also tend to encourage sharing of equipment and specialized task areas, so this can also decrease the size of the buildings. These numbers may be small but can add up if considered in combination with other buildings.

Prior to the conference, post-occupancy surveys of researchers and facilities staff will be conducted to validate the relative success of the differing design concepts as well as area/person comparisons of actual occupancy of cellular versus open laboratory.

Biographies:

Laura Carlson, AIA, LEED AP, is a graduate of the Syracuse University School of Architecture. She joined Hillier Architecture in 1989 after working as an intern for three summers. As a laboratory designer and programmer, Laura has worked on some of Hillier’s largest research and development commissions, including Yale University, Duke University, and GlaxoSmithKline. Her work has taken her across the globe—from Princeton, New Jersey, to Australia and back. Laura is not only a great resource for laboratory design, but also the science and technology practice group's sustainability expert.

Laura is chairman of professional development at Hillier Architecture. She was a jury member for Architectural Record’s Best in Advertising Awards at the 2005 American Institute of Architects convention, was the organizer and a presenter for a local university’s LEED 101 class, and has been published in R&D Newsletter as well as the 2006 and 2007 R&D Laboratory Design Handbook.

Eric Jaffe, AIA, NCARB, is an associate principal at Hillier Architecture in Princeton, New Jersey. As a project manager, Eric specializes in science and technology projects and has recently completed the Duke University's Medical Science Research Building II, Duke Global Health Research Laboratory, and the Boehringer Ingelheim Physical Science Building. He is currently working with George Mason University on their Regional Biocontainment Laboratory.

As part of Hillier's efforts to integrate sustainable design concepts in all of the projects the firm is involved in, Eric has challenged the designers and laboratory planners within the science and technology practice group to integrate environmental concepts in all projects he manages. This effort has resulted in Duke's registration of the Medical Science Research Building II with the U.S. Green Building Council. It is anticipated that this new laboratory facility will receive a LEED Silver rating.

Back to Agenda