The NIH Research Laboratory Manual describes in general and specific terms the minimum NIH requirements for planning and designing facilities that primarily house biomedical research laboratories. The relationship of NIH research laboratories to research subjects
demands careful consideration and is an integral part of the mission of the NIH. Laboratory and animal facilities must be distinct and separate building zones to satisfy systems, security, and materials management needs, yet provide the proximity of research subjects to labs.

A.1 Laboratory Activities

Biomedical research includes a variety of scientific disciplines that need to be accommodated in lab space. Laboratory facilities should provide space to perform experiments, electronic monitoring and calibration, information processing and retrieval, specimen and equipment storage, and recording equipment. Laboratories should be adaptable for the rapidly changing biomedical environment and should be able to support emerging scientific disciplines.

Laboratory facilities should also provide space for administrative activities and informal staff interaction. Administrative space should include offices for the laboratory chiefs and their secretarial and support staff. Areas should be provided to encourage interaction and philosophical exchange of ideas between scientists. Interaction areas may include refreshment or break areas, copy centers, stairwells, landings, meeting rooms, rest rooms,
corridors, and terraces.

A.2 General Staffing Patterns of an NIH Laboratory

The number of staff in any laboratory varies according to type of research and can vary greatly. At the NIH, on average, there are 30 research personnel per laboratory. Laboratories are divided into branches and sections. A hierarchy of lab chiefs, branch chiefs, and section chiefs supervise each component. The size of each laboratory, branch, and section should be determined early in the planning process in order to determine the
amount of space to be allocated. For planning purposes, it can be assumed that there will be one to two principal investigators and/or senior scientists per laboratory. Each laboratory will have a small clerical support area consisting, on average, of two clerical personnel. The clerical support area should be of adequate size to accommodate files, copy machines, mailboxes, desks, and computers.

A.3 Laboratory Research Trends

Biomedical research is advancing rapidly, and the facilities must be designed to anticipate these advances. Highly sophisticated instrumentation, including robotics, is the wave of the future in biomedical research laboratories.

There is a trend toward larger, denser, shared laboratory support rooms such as equipment rooms and special function rooms. The use of fume hoods for biomedical research has decreased dramatically in recent years because researchers have replaced many volatile and carcinogenic reagents with less toxic chemicals and procedures. However, there is an ever-increasing need for temperature-controlled storage, i.e., cold and warm rooms.

Another trend that acutely affects design is a move toward large, open laboratory spaces. Open labs encourage more efficient use of space and resources but can also present challenges.

Local computer user rooms are essential for the modern laboratory. The computer user room should be designed into laboratory neighborhoods as shared space where all the equipment needed for the current state-of-the-art communication technology can be brought together and shared. Equipment in the computer user room may include microprocessors, personal computers, scanners, plotters, laser printers, 35 mm slide makers, and so on.

A.4 User Input

The ultimate users, especially the researchers, must be consulted during the development of Programs of Requirements and the design phases to truly meet the needs of the NIH. Users’ input should be incorporated wherever possible and applicable in the project.