Laboratory: Core

The University of Arkansas opened the Institute for Integrative & Innovative Research (I³R) in August of 2025 on its Fayetteville campus. Designed by HGA and Hufft, the $137.6 million facility will accelerate cross-disciplinary research to foster convergence across the public and private sectors and address pressing problems in domains such as medicine, food systems, and cyber technologies. The 144,000-sf building accommodates five wings.

Brown University is constructing the William A. and Ami Kuan Danoff Laboratories in Providence’s Jewelry District to support integrated life sciences research. The 300,000-sf facility was designed by TenBerke and Ballinger to catalyze innovation and the commercialization of impactful scientific and medical breakthroughs. The seven-story building will provide six levels of wet and dry laboratories and research cores for programs in biology, medicine, neuroscience, bioengineering, and public health.

San Diego State University opened the Sciences and Engineering Laboratories in August of 2025 on the Imperial Valley campus in Brawley, Calif. Spanning 37,000 sf, the flexible structure houses teaching labs, interdisciplinary lecture spaces, specialized environments for research, core facilities, and 45 faculty and administrative offices. A STEM innovation hub is augmented by collaborative venues for public and private partners to work side by side with faculty and students.

The University of Sydney celebrated the beginning of construction on the AU$780 million Sydney Biomedical Accelerator in May of 2025. Created in partnership with the Government of New South Wales and Sydney Local Health District, the 387,500-sf structure will forge a vital link between the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and the university's Camperdown campus.

The University of Kansas Cancer Center broke ground in May of 2025 on a visionary complex that will collocate groundbreaking biomedical research with world-class patient care in Kansas City. Designed by HDR and Hoefer Welker, the $450 million facility will deliver a comprehensive array of services in a single integrated location, as well as providing direct access to leading-edge clinical trials.

The University of Delaware opened a $180 million science and innovation facility in April of 2025 to catalyze interdisciplinary discovery and expand educational capacity. Built on the former site of McKinley Hall in Newark, the 132,500-sf building houses research and teaching labs with damp and dry functionalities, faculty offices and student workspaces, and conference rooms.

Case Western Reserve University celebrated the official groundbreaking of the Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building (ISEB) in October of 2024 in Cleveland. Designed by HGA in partnership with local firm DVA Architecture, the 189,000-sf facility will collocate more than 60 principal investigators from the School of Medicine, the School of Engineering, and the College of Arts and Sciences. The $300 million structure will offer both wet and dry labs, a shared core lab, and advanced technology platforms.

The vision of biomedical research as a collective effort is resoundingly clear in the $237.5 million Pelotonia Research Center, the first building to be completed in the 350-plus-acre Carmenton district on the campus of The Ohio State University (Ohio State) in Columbus. Opened in May 2023, the center integrates almost 100,000 sf of wet labs, 25,000 sf of computational labs, and 20,000 sf of core labs in a single facility designed to host interdisciplinary collaborations and public-private initiatives that focus on solving some of the most critical health challenges. With life science as the backbone of the research endeavor, current projects range from modeling cancer progressions to 3D printing of patient-specific anatomic models. 

Yale University broke ground in late September of 2024 on the Physical Sciences and Engineering Building (PSEB) in New Haven, Conn. Offering 50 laboratories, the 253,000-sf structure was designed by TenBerke and Ballinger to equip future generations of quantum scientists, engineers, and physicists. Research Facilities Design is the laboratory planning consultant for the six-level project, which will feature sophisticated instrumentation and fabrication environments that drive university-wide collaborations.

The decreasing amount of time researchers spend in their labs is changing research facility design and space allocation, with an increased need for lab support space, a more significant reliance on core facilities, the creation of additional write-up and data analysis environments, and the purposeful inclusion of collaboration spaces.

Texas Tech University opened the $112.5 million Academic Sciences Building in Lubbock in August of 2024. Enhancing the student experience with new venues for active learning and exchange, the 130,000-sf facility was designed by BGK Architects and EYP Architecture & Engineering (now a Page company). The three-story structure provides teaching and laboratory space for five departments: chemistry and biochemistry, physics and astronomy, biological sciences, geosciences, and psychological sciences.

The University of New Hampshire completed the renovation and expansion of Spaulding Hall in Durham in late July of 2024. Ellenzweig designed the $89 million project to provide the Department of Biological Sciences with state-of-the-art research labs, core facilities, instructional settings, and collaborative learning venues. Slated to achieve LEED certification, the sustainable structure collocates programs in biochemistry, neuroscience, ecology, cell culture, medical laboratory science, and anatomy and physiology.