Laboratory: Research

Construction is nearing completion on Samuel Merritt University’s health sciences education campus in Oakland, Calif. In addition to revitalizing the local economy, the 10-story tower will enable the university to double enrollment over the next decade to address the Bay Area’s critical shortage of healthcare workers by expanding the provider pipeline. The $240 million facility will feature 19 classrooms, a motion analysis center, and specialized teaching and research laboratories including a cadaver anatomy lab. 

Temple University officially opened a $125 million facility for the Christopher M. Barnett College of Public Health in October of 2025 in Philadelphia. Designed by SLAM and PZS Architects, the adaptive reuse project transforms the former Paley Library into a five-story nexus for innovation and academic excellence. The 306,000-sf building offers active learning classrooms, research suites, and offices, as well as a student loft and the Aramark Community Teaching Kitchen.

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.

Procter & Gamble is engaged in a $450 million expansion of the Mason Business Center in Ohio. Designed by HDR, the transformative project comprises two new three-story buildings that will provide best-in-class laboratory and office space to catalyze R&D innovation. Researchers with diverse domains of expertise will be strategically colocated to drive collaboration and streamline the implementation of new technologies. 

The University of North Dakota broke ground in September of 2025 on the STEM Complex in Grand Forks. Designed by Clark & Enersen and EAPC Architects Engineers, the $163 million facility aims to redefine education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in the state and beyond. This dynamic ecosystem will foster corporate engagement while accelerating discovery in fields such as transportation, artificial intelligence, and advanced materials.

Claremont McKenna College opened the Robert Day Sciences Center in September of 2025 in Claremont, Calif. As the home for the new Kravis Department of Integrated Sciences, the 135,000-sf facility enables a transformative pedagogy organized around three overlapping foci: health, brain, and planet. The three-story structure supports a research-centered, solutions-driven curriculum, creating experiential learning opportunities for students and emphasizing the applications of artificial intelligence to real-world challenges.

The University of Tennessee, Knoxville broke ground in September of 2025 on a state-of-the-art facility for chemistry education and training. Designed by BarberMcMurry Architects and Lord Aeck Sargent, the $199 million building will prepare the workforce of the future for the growing chemical industry in the state and beyond. The eight-story structure will span 162,000 sf, accommodating two 50-seat lecture halls, 30 research laboratories, and a 50-seat study room. 

The University of Tennessee dedicated the UT Medical Nursing Building in August of 2025 in Knoxville. Created in partnership with UT Medical Center, the $108.2 million facility was designed by Ayers Saint Gross and McCarty Holsaple McCarty as a catalyst for the optimization of health through nurse-led care.

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.

The University of Kentucky is constructing the $430 million Michael D. Rankin MD Health Education Building in Lexington to enhance community wellbeing by addressing provider shortages throughout the state. Expanding the university’s training capacity by up to 1,200 students, the 509,000-sf facility will strategically colocates programs in medicine, public health, nursing, and health sciences, as well as housing the Center for Interprofessional and Community Health Education.

Austin Peay State University opened the $70 million Health Professions Building in August of 2025 in Clarksville, Tenn. Ayers Saint Gross and HASTINGS designed the the 114,600-sf facility to strategically colocate the School of Nursing and the departments of Allied Health Sciences, Health and Human Performance, Social Work, and Psychological Science and Counseling.

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.

Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) broke ground on an academic and research building for the physical sciences in July of 2025 in the Netherlands. The dynamic facility will colocate departments from the Faculty of the Applied Sciences on the college’s south campus and stimulate excellence in education, discovery, and collaboration.

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 Milwaukee School of Engineering broke ground on the Robert D. Kern Engineering Innovation Center in July of 2025 to catalyze interdisciplinary education and collaboration. Designed by RAMLOW/STEIN Architecture + Interiors, the $75.5 million facility will offer flexible labs, modern classrooms, robotics workshops, an outdoor sustainability lab, and public spaces for interactive learning.