A More Flexible Model for Commercial Science
1 Convertible Infrastructure Designing mechanical, structural and service systems that allow buildings to pivot—not just between lab types, but between entirely different programs, including healthcare, office or mid-tech use.
2 Hybrid Floor Plates Designing layouts that can shift between wet labs, dry labs, computation and engineering—supporting everything from bench science to robotics to data-driven research.
3 Shared High-Value Resources
Not every tenant needs—or can afford—fully bespoke infrastructure. Forward-looking buildings are beginning to incorporate shared access to high-cost equipment, specialized environments and support spaces—lowering barriers for start-ups while maximizing utilization.
4 Zoned Capacity Locating high-load, vibration-sensitive and chemically intensive uses at lower levels—while recognizing that evolving codes and technologies now allow these uses to extend higher in the building—expanding flexibility across floors.
Key strategies include:
The goal is not to predict the future of science perfectly—but to create buildings resilient enough to respond to it. This requires a shift from thinking about buildings as finished products to thinking about them as platforms for changing uses.
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This shift also raises a critical question for developers: How to design a building that attracts multiple types of science tenants—without over-specializing for any one of them?
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