McGill University Best Practices and Approaches – New Thinking in Lab Design P .R.B. Planners Inc. Laboratory Consultants
What makes a good laboratory? Consider the following - • The Program • The People (Culture) • The Infrastructure • Health and Safety • Risk Management • Sustainability • Technology Integration P .R.B. Planners Inc. Laboratory Consultants
What makes a good laboratory? Consider the following - And, for Undergraduate Labs … • Pedagogy? • Demand on resources • Adaptability of infrastructure to new teaching methods and new ideas P .R.B. Planners Inc. Laboratory Consultants
What makes a GREAT laboratory? Paying attention to each of the previous points and finding the right balance between each of them. P .R.B. Planners Inc. Laboratory Consultants
Getting with the Program P .R.B. Planners Inc. Laboratory Consultants
Getting with the Program P .R.B. Planners Inc. Laboratory Consultants
Getting with the Program • Time consuming initially • Must be taken seriously • Everyone must be involved • Saves time and money LABS THAT USE A DETAILED PROGRAM ARE CONSISTENTLY BETTER LABS ! P .R.B. Planners Inc. Laboratory Consultants
Culture • Every Institution/Organization has its own unique ‘flavour’. • Labs should be designed around the culture of the organization. • If you force people to adopt a new culture against their will, the labs will not work. Paying attention to Culture will make people feel comfortable in their new environment P .R.B. Planners Inc. Laboratory Consultants
Infrastructure .R.B. Planners Inc. Laboratory Consultants P
Infrastructure • Determine from program services/utilities and special situations that will determine what goes into the lab. • Ensure that services are delivered ‘everywhere’, within reason • Handle unique cases separately • Simple choices can vastly affect future outcome – side-mount services vs. floor penetration P .R.B. Planners Inc. Laboratory Consultants
The Infrastructure Intelligent service delivery improves flexibility and adaptability – cheaper now and much cheaper when renovations occur ! flex·i·bil·i·ty /noun churn /noun adapt·abil·i·ty /noun The ability of the The cyclical rate The ability of the researcher/student at which labs are owner to modify to move from one reconfigured space with a area to another and minimum amount of continue to work disruption P .R.B. Planners Inc. Laboratory Consultants
Infrastructure The best labs are labs that are designed to grow and change in concert with changes in pedagogy, research and culture and do not impose barriers to that growth. P .R.B. Planners Inc. Laboratory Consultants
Health and Safety .R.B. Planners Inc. Laboratory Consultants P
Health and Safety • Related to risk management • Legislated requirements for your facility • Provincial, Federal EH&S policy as well as workers compensation board, CSA, Hydro requirements, Fire code etc., not to mention municipal codes. P .R.B. Planners Inc. Laboratory Consultants
Health and Safety • Best approach is to incorporate as a philosophy into design • Make safety showers, eyewash stations and emergency stations a part of the lab • Solvent and chemical storage integrated into lab design • Unique opportunity with U/G labs to re-work dispensing and distribution methods The best labs make health and safety highly visible and turn it into part of the culture! P .R.B. Planners Inc. Laboratory Consultants
Risk Management • Start each scenario by saying “what could happen?” • Object is to send everyone home with all of their parts. • By adopting simple strategies, risk is managed and liability is reduced P .R.B. Planners Inc. Laboratory Consultants
Risk Management .R.B. Planners Inc. Laboratory Consultants P
Risk Management .R.B. Planners Inc. Laboratory Consultants P
Risk Management • Consider Traffic movement for all activities • Especially critical for U/G activities P .R.B. Planners Inc. Laboratory Consultants
Risk Management .R.B. Planners Inc. Laboratory Consultants P
Risk Management .R.B. Planners Inc. Laboratory Consultants P
Risk Management • Plays a critical role in lab design • Can be applied to almost all lab activities • Can be used as a tool to help achieve, in a natural way, compliance with all applicable legislation (solvent & chem storage for example) The best labs incorporate risk management strategies in an almost subconscious manner ! P .R.B. Planners Inc. Laboratory Consultants
Sustainability • Labs are traditionally energy intensive buildings • The last decade has witnessed the emergence of a number of bodies to help lab designers plan for more efficient facilities i.e. EPA, US DOE, etc through LEEDS and Labs for the 21 st Century. P .R.B. Planners Inc. Laboratory Consultants
Sustainability • Attempt to achieve transparency to user • Creates many more choices for design options: – Ventilation – Lighting – Systems (gas vs. electric; water vs. vacuum, ultra pure water vs. filtered, etc.) – Materials for construction – Architectural considerations P .R.B. Planners Inc. Laboratory Consultants
Sustainability • Sustainable labs are: – Brighter – Quieter – More efficient in terms of space and movement – Nicer environments to work in – Marketable The best labs are sustainable and incorporate energy and environmental design practices. P .R.B. Planners Inc. Laboratory Consultants
Technology Integration • A subset of infrastructure, but much more ambiguous • Must be viewed on a discipline by discipline level • Can be comprised of : – Instrumentation advances – Computing advances – Directions in science (nanotech, combinatorial, micro-sizing, etc.) P .R.B. Planners Inc. Laboratory Consultants
Technology Integration .R.B. Planners Inc. Laboratory Consultants P
Technology Integration • Must be able to ‘predict’ directions (new instrumentation, new grants, new faculty) • Must have an accurate feel for the progression of the discipline • Must be able to accommodate changes • Can be as simple as accessible cable trays • Can be as speculative as gambling against the emergence of wireless tech and installing data ports The best labs incorporate the infrastructure necessary to allow technological advances to occur naturally and without barriers. P .R.B. Planners Inc. Laboratory Consultants
Undergraduate Considerations • U/G labs must consider all of the preceding points AND • Must take into account parameters that increase the complexity of design P .R.B. Planners Inc. Laboratory Consultants
Right-Sizing an Undergraduate Laboratory Enrolment Sectioning Schedule LAB SIZE Teaching Methods Compatibility Density P .R.B. Planners Inc. Laboratory Consultants
Enrolment • Does past activity indicate future activity? • Are there proposed changes to programs? • Are there changes to departments for whom you deliver service teaching? • Are there provincial changes to funding/support? • Try to predict future growth for 5 & 10 yrs Current trends are to build in some room for growth, but to have contingency plans in the event of blips and balloons P .R.B. Planners Inc. Laboratory Consultants
Teaching Methods (Teaching Culture) • Does Faculty teach? TAs? • Who does lab setup/teardown – cleanup? • individual student lockers or communal glassware? • Demonstration benches ? Prep areas? Pre-lab demos? • Set weekly experiments or rotate through set experiments • If pre-lab lecture, in lab or classroom – traffic? P .R.B. Planners Inc. Laboratory Consultants
Teaching Methods Current trends are: - provide small breakout space ( a chalk board/white board per TA group) - avoid the expense of Demo Benches and full A/V set ups. - Pre taped demos delivered either via monitor or computer – saves time, reduces liability, and is consistent in its information to all students. P .R.B. Planners Inc. Laboratory Consultants
Density • How many students / lab? • How many students / teaching assistants? • Comfort level – more students/lab and more students/TA increases risk factor Current trends are to have 17-23 students/TA; Labs should be sized for 50-100 students P .R.B. Planners Inc. Laboratory Consultants
Scheduling .R.B. Planners Inc. Laboratory Consultants P
Scheduling • Does your timetable have flexibility • Occupancy Rates? • Room capacity? Current trends are to have occupancy rates of > 50% (8-5) P .R.B. Planners Inc. Laboratory Consultants
Sectioning • Enrolment of 150 in BIO 101 • Size lab for 150? 75? 50? 30? – Depends on resources – Teaching style – Lab size P .R.B. Planners Inc. Laboratory Consultants
Compatibility • Can labs be blended? – Phys & Analytical – General & BioChem – Biology & General – Etc. Current trends are to have labs that can serve as wide a purpose as possible by being as generic as possible. P .R.B. Planners Inc. Laboratory Consultants
McGill University Lab Design Issues Primer P .R.B. Planners Inc. Laboratory Consultants
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