Space Use

Hybrid workplace strategies continue to make headlines, as some high-profile companies are requiring all employees to return to the office five days a week. Many other companies, such as Stantec, a global architectural engineering firm, continue to embrace the hybrid approach, giving employees the flexibility to work remotely part of the week while fostering in-person collaboration during designated office days. Stantec initially adopted this hybrid approach due to pandemic restrictions, but, after seeing the collaborative and financial benefits, decided to maintain their commitment to supporting hybrid work environments. 

The Oregon State University College of Engineering is embarking on a transformative journey to optimize space, enhance research capacity, and create a cohesive environment for students and faculty. Through strategic planning, innovative redesigns, and an emphasis on community engagement, OSU is redefining how legacy buildings can serve modern needs without massive new construction. A major focus of the 10-year plan centers on the university’s “engineering triangle,” a cluster of historic buildings dedicated to engineering research and education. These century-old buildings, while rich in history, are in desperate need of modernization to support the university’s cutting-edge research. While previous years have seen new construction, the next phase will focus on preserving and enhancing existing spaces.

It’s no secret that many healthcare organizations are struggling to attract and keep enough staff to look after their patients. New space plans are offering solutions to the staffing challenge that increase healthcare worker satisfaction and success by making it easier for them to do their job. Not all staffing considerations are building-related, but there are many ways the building can work to help doctors, nurses, therapists, and aides do their jobs more effectively while maintaining their own physical and mental health. That balance is attractive to healthcare workers.

Artificial intelligence is no longer a futuristic concept; it’s a transformative force actively reshaping how research is conducted, how buildings are designed, and how energy is consumed. From self-driving labs—defined as laboratories where scientific systems can autonomously perform multiple cycles of the scientific method—to smart energy systems, AI is ushering in a new era of efficiency, collaboration, and complexity. This shift was evident in a series of think tank sessions hosted by SmithGroup’s Science & Technology, Artificial Intelligence, and Energy Advisory Board, where leaders from academia, private industry, the energy sector, design, engineering and planning explored the rapid evolution of AI and its impact on research environments. In just six months between sessions, the pace of change was striking: Half of the experts expressed openness to selective technological enhancements, an idea nearly all had rejected earlier. This growing acceptance signals a more tangible AI-driven future, though strategies around governance and energy are still emerging. The following report offers insights into how AI is transforming research ecosystems, the energy infrastructure needed to support this growth, and the challenges and opportunities ahead.

Academic STEM facilities need the flexibility to accommodate an expanding range of disciplines and pedagogical methods while equipped with an adaptable infrastructure responsive to occupancy shifts and technology advances. Today’s projects often span the complexity spectrum, from soft spaces and graduate student workstations outside the lab to a zero-point energy (ZPE) environment for quantum physics research or an engineering lab housing a wind tunnel. While the terms “flexibility” and “adaptability” are often used interchangeably to describe the requirements of a lab building, planners at Research Facilities Design (RFD) draw a clear distinction between the two. In their context, flexibility is what occurs below the ceiling, for example, movable casework that allows a lab to accommodate new equipment or new research opportunities. Adaptability refers to what happens above the ceiling, such as robust MEP systems, well-organized ductwork and piping racks, and spare capacity at the electrical panel to support new or expanded programs in the building. 

In an era of expanding research portfolios and heightened expectations for interdisciplinary collaboration, universities face intensifying pressure to strategically plan, manage, and optimize research space. Research facilities, wet labs, maker spaces, core facilities, and computational suites, represent some of the most limited and costly assets in the academic environment. As competition for high-quality laboratories and specialized rooms grows, institutions are re-evaluating entrenched practices, strengthening policy frameworks, and adopting data-driven systems to ensure that space is allocated efficiently, transparently, and equitably. The most successful universities treat research space not as a static inheritance but as a strategic resource that must evolve with the institution’s mission.

More and more universities are building their scientific research centers around cores of huge, heavy, yet surprisingly delicate equipment. Building a core laboratory facility forces architects and campus planners to think about logistics, timing, and backup systems to a level of detail probably more familiar to NASA engineers than institutional architects. As the team behind Emory University’s new Health Sciences Research Building II (HSRB-II) learned, a huge range of factors—in their case, everything from the amount of rebar in the flooring to the width of the corridors to shipping velocity on the Suez Canal—must be reckoned with before such a facility is completed.

In both the public and private sector, the pendulum has swung away from remote work, and many leaders want their employees to come back to the office more days per week. While good workplace design can help make workplaces commute-worthy, the success of any return-to-office strategy depends on a mix of operational protocols and design decisions, says Kay Sargent, director of thought leadership, interiors, at global design, architecture, engineering and planning firm HOK.

Workplace occupancy planning used to be straightforward: People were assigned to an office, cubicle, or facility, and that is where they worked. Not so in the current hybrid work world. Traditional space and occupancy techniques are struggling to handle the complexity of today’s diverse facility use patterns. And increased pressure and regulations related to sustainability and energy usage only add to the challenge. However, AI is beginning to transform space and occupancy planning.

Wesleyan University is constructing a $255 million science building to consolidate two existing facilities and anchor a transformational life sciences precinct in Middletown, Conn. Designed by Payette, the 195,000-gsf structure will house the departments of Biology, Chemistry, and Molecular Biology and Biochemistry.  The four-story development will feature 39 research and support labs, nine teaching labs, seven classrooms, and a vivarium.

Science and engineering are constantly moving knowledge forward, and that means updates to the way we teach and do research. But buildings tend to remain artifacts of the time in which they were built. The future is flexible, and agile design with an inclusive approach can help turn old buildings into places where the next wave of scientists and engineers can flourish.

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust and Cambridgeshire University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust are planning to construct a £671 million ($910.4 million) children’s hospital in association with the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. Designed by Hawkins\Brown and White Arkitekter, the 373,507-sf facility will offer 187 beds in total, with 108 for inpatient use, 16 dedicated to pediatric care, and 42 day-case beds.

In the span of 16 months, Seattle’s Fred Hutch Cancer Center formulated and implemented a space realignment initiative that divested 30,000 sf of leased space, generated $2 million in savings and another $2 million in cost avoidance, and impacted approximately 1,400 people, 20% of its 7,000-member workforce.

The design and planning of medical and health sciences education facilities serve as both the precursor and the wave of the future, with facilities that are not only mixed-use, but truly hybridized and integrated. Formerly siloed programs for nursing, medical, surgical, and pharmaceutical training reap exponential benefits from shared technology, resources, and spaces that enable multiple institutions and stakeholders to offer more robust programs. The hybrid building model mirrors a coevolving approach to healthcare, where teamwork is central, and training with the latest technologies is key. By accommodating the functions of multiple disciplines, forward-thinking institutions can both leverage available space and focus on creating environments for the interpersonal collaboration that underpins the experience of 21st-century health practitioners, as well as that of their patients.

Three years after the end of the pandemic, office occupancies have still not gone back to where they were pre-COVID, and there is a wide range of opinions about whether they should. While some executives have ordered everyone back into the office, arguing that being physically present facilitates engagement and innovation, many workers argue that their working life and their home life are better when they can choose where they log on.