Open Lab or Closed Lab? What to Decide Before You Break Ground
The success of a research facility depends on more than the people working inside it — it depends on the space itself. A poorly configured lab doesn't just look dated; it slows down research, limits how teams collaborate, and can quietly cost an institution its ability to attract top researchers. Yet lab layout decisions are often made early, on paper, months or years before anyone sets foot in the finished space — which is exactly when they're hardest to walk back.
Why Layout Decisions Carry So Much Weight
Unlike office space, a laboratory's floor plan is tightly coupled to its casework, utilities, and airflow systems. Once benches, fume hoods, and service chases are installed, reconfiguring the room is a capital project, not a furniture swap. That makes the earliest design decisions — open lab vs. closed lab chief among them — some of the most consequential a research institution will make.
Open Lab Concepts: Weighing the Trade-Offs
Collaboration. Open, shared lab environments put multiple research groups in the same physical space, encouraging the kind of informal, cross-disciplinary exchange that closed-door labs structurally discourage. For institutions competing to attract top research talent, that collaborative culture is increasingly a selling point in itself.
Flexibility. Open layouts built around modular casework and mobile bench systems can be reconfigured as research priorities shift, without the cost of a full renovation. This is a meaningful advantage for institutions whose research focus — and headcount — changes year to year.
Trade-offs. Open concepts aren't automatically the right answer. Shared space can mean shared noise, shared equipment scheduling conflicts, and less control over containment for work requiring isolation. Some research — anything involving sensitive samples, controlled substances, or specialized ventilation needs — is simply better served by a closed, dedicated room.
The right answer depends less on trend and more on the specific research being done, the institution's culture, and how much flexibility the program genuinely needs versus how much containment and control it requires.
Catching Problems Before They're Poured in Concrete
The other shift changing how labs get designed industry-wide is the growing use of virtual reality walkthroughs during the planning phase. Rather than relying solely on 2D drawings and static renderings, some design teams now put stakeholders — researchers, facilities staff, safety officers — inside a full-scale virtual version of the lab before construction begins.
Whether or not VR is part of your project's toolkit, the underlying principle holds: the people who will actually use a lab every day often catch problems that a floor plan alone won't reveal — a bench height that doesn't work for an accessible workstation, a fume hood sash that swings into a walking path, a utility drop in the wrong corner of the room. Surfacing those issues during design review costs nothing but time. Surfacing them after installation costs a change order.
What This Means for Your Next Lab Project
A few principles carry across both open lab planning and pre-construction review:
- Involve end users early. Researchers and lab managers who will actually work in the space should weigh in on layout — whether through a VR walkthrough, a mockup, or simply a detailed review of the plan — before casework and utilities are finalized.
- Match the layout to the work, not the trend. Open concepts support collaboration and flexibility; closed labs support containment and control. Most institutions need some mix of both.
- Build in reconfigurability where you can. Modular casework systems make it possible to adjust a lab's layout later without a full teardown — a hedge against research needs you can't fully predict today.
- Treat design review as cheap insurance. Whatever tool you use to catch design issues before construction — VR, physical mockups, or a thorough design partner review — it's far less expensive than fixing the same issue after installation.
Design It Right the First Time
ICI Scientific works with architects and facilities teams from schematic design through installation — providing preliminary layout services, 3D renderings, and BIM/AutoCAD resources so design issues surface on paper, not after casework is installed. If you're weighing an open lab concept for an upcoming project, or want a second set of eyes on a layout before it's finalized, reach out to your ICI Scientific representative.
