Veterinary Medicine 3rd Floor Renovation

Lord Aeck Sargent worked with NCSU to convert 7,500 sf of 1980’s era segregated space into open, flexible lab space to enabled the University to easily expand and contract space allocations amongst Principal Investigators (PIs).

Goals for the project included designing the space to encourage interaction between PIs and technicians and to maximize the use of lab benches. The design included shared lab support spaces and freezer spaces, which enable the University to maximize the use of support facilities.

The HVAC, plumbing, fire alarm, teledata and fire protection systems were updated to support the lab. Some finish upgrades outside of the primary zone of work were included in the design, which will aid in the phasing of future renovations and improve the overall look and feel of the facility.

The design took advantage of the challenges that the existing building presented. The lab support functions were collected into a zone that separated the existing mechanical from the open lab and bioinformatics spaces. By designing the layout accordingly, the lab support (spaces that require heavy MEP infrastructure) were concentrated and placed adjacent to existing available services and, at the same time, serve as a buffer to spaces where temperature and acoustics were more sensitive. In turn, the layout created a large, contiguous zone of open lab space that could easily be allocated in many different ways as research needs change.

Practice Areas