5 Guidelines for Efficient Lab Design
The island (left) has storage underneath, accessible with doors on both sides.
Efficiency in lab design means maximizing functionality while minimizing effort. Anticipating challenges and implementing a structured plan is essential for an efficient lab design. Below are five key layout considerations to optimize your workspace.
1. Make Safety an Element of Efficiency
A lab that prioritizes safety naturally enhances efficiency. Incorporating safety protocols into your efficient lab design ensures intuitive adherence. Safety equipment, such as goggles, face masks and gloves, should be stored at the entrance for easy access. This not only streamlines inventory management but also ensures quick replacement when supplies run low. Wardrobe cabinets near the entrance can help reduce clutter from boots and coats, keeping workspaces organized.
Strategic storage solutions—such as overhead shelves and under-counter compartments—keep workstations clear of unnecessary tools while ensuring vital equipment is readily accessible. Hazardous process stations should be positioned toward the back of the lab, away from entry points, with utilities, gas lines and ventilation ducts placed accordingly to maintain safety and accessibility.
2. Use Fixed and Flexible Solutions
There are many options for mobile and flexible furniture in a lab setting. The use of permanent fixtures versus flexible options should be based on the designation of the lab. If the lab is used for different processes at different times the use of mobile workstations and flexible storage can help staff customize the most efficient work space. The stability and weight bearing capacity of fixed casework and storage is best for larger, heavier equipment. It is good practice to have both fixed and flexible options with a combination of drawers and cupboards to accommodate different sized items required for each task. You need the ability to store frequently used items close by for the greatest efficiency.
Mobile stations with upright supports can integrate shelving or wall cabinets, maximizing space efficiency. Thoughtful placement of efficient lab design elements, like mobile carts, allows overlapping processes, optimizing workspace usability.
Steel D5 – efficient placement of shelving keeps countertops clear.
3. Provide Plenty of Storage and Shelving
Thoughtful well-placed storage and shelving can make a lab more efficient by storing items out of the way but keeping them close at hand. High, wall-mounted storage cabinets can help save counter top and floor space. Mounted casework and under-counter cabinets are great permanent storage options. For any overhead cabinets deeper than 12″, be sure to include under cabinet lighting for safe efficient work spaces on the counters below. Island counters can be up to 18″ deep and configured with pass-through storage cabinets allowing equipment to be accessed from either side. Also, remember to consider the storage options with mobile carts and workstations. These can be fitted with cabinet and overhead shelving.
4. Research the Available Options for Lab Equipment
The best way to maximize efficiency of lab equipment is to analyze its location, connection and footprint. Equipment location should be determined by the hazards it presents. The most hazardous equipment or the equipment used in the most hazardous processes should be to the back of the room away from the exit. Less hazardous equipment can be placed closer to the main door.
For safety and efficiency, keep utilities close to equipment and tasks that require it.
If equipment needs exhaust, or access to a gas line or other utilities creating a work space for that equipment closest to those utilities is essential. Finally, the size of the equipment, both height and footprint, must be considered in relationship to countertop space and overhead storage. If there is tall equipment that will require storage, plan accordingly. Also, as mentioned earlier, heavier equipment may require fixed casework for storage, and that should be installed near by.
5. Learn from an Expert
Collaborating with an experienced laboratory designer ensures a workspace that is safe, comprehensively equipped, and optimized for efficiency. Experts can provide tailored solutions for safety, fixed and flexible furniture, storage, and equipment placement, helping you achieve an efficient lab design that meets your unique requirements.