As forensic science continues to advance, many labs risk falling behind.

This article explores how future-ready design can help forensic facilities adapt to rapid changes in technology, sustainability requirements, and workforce expectations. Learn five essential strategies that promote flexibility, operational integrity, and digital readiness. In a field where accuracy and trust are everything, the design of your facility should support the mission, not stand in the way.

Download the full article to explore how design can protect evidence, empower professionals, and support justice.

Vaccine development is accelerating — but are the labs keeping pace?

As global health demands intensify, the pressure is on to retrofit legacy vaccine labs for resilience, flexibility, and sustainability. From minimizing renovation disruptions to integrating AI infrastructure, this guide outlines eight future-ready strategies for transforming existing lab spaces without the high cost of new construction.

Download the full insight to explore how smarter design can empower the next generation of vaccine innovation.

Automated elements streamline routine tasks like sample handling and data analysis, freeing up researchers for more complex work.
When creating a new lab environment or updating an existing one, the project must be planned with these tools in mind to be successful. However, the ability to incorporate tools that have not even been invented yet smoothly and effectively into that same lab five years from now is just as essential.

Download our considerations for incorporating automation technologies into an existing lab below!

Clean rooms are highly controlled environments. Whether in a pharmaceutical, biotechnology, electronics, clean manufacturing or a healthcare environment, clean rooms must maintain strict air quality and cleanliness standards. At HED, our integrated architectural, laboratory planning and engineering teams focus on the following critical aspects first to design clean rooms that meet the programmatic goals and compliance needs of our clients. Download our key considerations for successful clean room design below. 

Sustainable laboratory design is key to creating scientific spaces that prioritize environmental stewardship, energy efficiency, and occupant well-being.

Put simply, sustainable design is efficient, resilient, and healthier for occupants. As laboratories are known for their intensive resource consumption and potential environmental impacts, designing them with sustainability in mind is crucial for mitigating these effects and promoting a greener future - here's how we at HED approach designing healthy, sustainable, efficient laboratory spaces. 

The science sector has unique needs when it comes to workspaces, including a focus on employee recruiting and retention.

How can a Flex Tech design help meet growing demand, create operational savings, and enable higher performance for teams? Download our approach to learn more!

Encompassing products, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and human health solutions, the life science industry is flourishing. HED’s scientific workplace designers have taken a look back on 2022 and are putting forward predictions and lessons learned for 2023 and beyond.

Check them out below!

The laboratory is much more than a building filled with scientific instruments: it is a place where minds come together to innovate, discover, and create solutions to pressing issues. A suboptimal workspace can hinder collaboration as well as productivity, and a workspace that includes laboratories has specific needs. The new Wacker Innovation Center and Regional HQ (Wacker) in Ann Arbor, MI, exemplifies this model through its expression of three key design considerations.

Explore the 3 essential design considerations for collaboration in a scientific work environment below!

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within the laboratory environment are vital for the advancement of science and a more equitable society. Education and employment within the sciences has historically been, and is still, majority white and male. As a result, research is often focused on those individuals, missing either the perspective of diverse peoples or the richer data they would impart. Welcoming women, people of color, disabled persons, and diverse cultures, religions, and creeds will expand the realm of discovery. The results of that science will be more valuable and efficient for the diverse world we live in. The benefits are economic as well as social.

There are two routes to consider when thinking about building inclusion and equity within science professions at the facilities level - educational and professional.

Read and download our considerations below. 

The laboratory is much more than a building filled with scientific instruments; it is a place where minds come together to innovate, discover, and create solutions to pressing issues.

A suboptimal workspace can hinder collaboration as well as productivity, and a workspace that includes laboratories has specific needs. The scientific workplace is a framework that focuses on fostering collaboration and creating a space where scientists love to work – discover the key traits of a successful scientific workplace here.