While laboratories need essential equipment such as microscopes and centrifuges, to help tenants move the needle on innovation they also need spaces and amenities that emphasize productivity and wellness.

The modern-day lab takes these needs into account by incorporating collaborative areas, exposure to natural light and outdoor spaces, among other features.

Architecture and engineering firm EwingCole creates health and wellness facilities, labs included, that help tenants work toward their goals and prioritize their well-being.

EwingCole principal Jennifer Wampler will speak at Bisnow’s Triangle Life Sciences Summit on Nov. 6 at the Marriott Raleigh City Center on the panel titled Breathing Life Into Existing Facilities.

Click here to register and purchase tickets.

Bisnow caught up with Wampler to discuss the must-have lab amenities, how these spaces can accommodate life sciences advancements, and EwingCole’s collaboration with lab clients in Research Triangle Park.

Bisnow: What amenities do RTP tenants need in their lab spaces?

Wampler: We’re seeing a focus on employees’ health and wellness, with spaces that they can gather and collaborate in. There’s a strong emphasis on community and connection to the outdoors, with amenities that include outdoor patios and terraces and bocce ball and cornhole tournament courts. They also want spaces where they can focus as well as find respite throughout the day.

Bisnow: How do you see these needs changing as research and development evolves?

Wampler: R&D has moved into an era where it's highly digitized. Artificial intelligence is driving advances and automation is carrying out tasks that employees once delivered in the lab. That shift is taking lab users and scientists out of the lab and into the office, so it further reinforces creating a high quality and variety of space outside of the lab.

That said, the lab itself is still a critical space, with connections to nature through daylight and views serving as a baseline expectation for tenants.

Building space and utility flexibility into labs and enabling the tenant's technology to evolve without disrupting their ongoing operations is really important. Building in power and data infrastructure that has sufficient capacity for additions or modifications at a localized level is one way that we're addressing that need.

Bisnow: How does EwingCole work with life sciences clients in RTP to create functional and aesthetic labs?

Wampler: EwingCole is an integrated architecture and engineering firm, which allows us to approach projects holistically and blend design and performance into one solution.

Throughout the process, we seek to understand our clients and become an extension of their team. We start by understanding their current operations, their goals for the future, key drivers and how they're going to measure their success. Understanding all of that, and overlaying their workflows from a material and personnel perspective and then incorporating infrastructure, allows us to find solutions to the clients’ needs.

Bisnow: What topics are you planning to discuss on the Breathing Life Into Existing Facilities panel?

Wampler: In a highly competitive market like RTP, differentiators in the building design will really make a difference in filling existing buildings. Sustainability and employee health and wellness are key areas of focus.

Buildings play a significant role in recruiting and retaining employees. Working in a state-of-the-art building spurs this community of innovation that results in scientific gains.

A great example is United Therapeutics’ latest development on their campus, a carbon-neutral manufacturing and lab facility made of mass timber that meets current good manufacturing practice standards. United Therapeutics sees the benefits of investing in their buildings to showcase excellence in their industry.

Click here to learn more about Bisnow’s Triangle Life Sciences Summit on Nov. 6.

This article was produced in collaboration between Studio B and EwingCole. Bisnow news staff was not involved in the production of this content.

Studio B is Bisnow’s in-house content and design studio. To learn more about how Studio B can help your team, reach out to studio@bisnow.com.