Lahey Hospital & Medical Center COVID-19 Lab

Life Science Design in Healthcare
Who Should Be Designing It and How?

Healthcare and Life Science design both require a lot of attention to detail. There are complex pieces of equipment that must be taken into consideration as well as additional Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing requirements as compared to commercial, retail, or residential design. So what happens when you design a lab within a healthcare setting?

The lab requirements must be layered into the healthcare requirements for any space licensed by the Department of Public Health (DPH). This means adhering to DPH’s IP23 Laboratory Services checklist in addition to the Facility Guidelines Institute’s (FGI) best practices, as well as all applicable local codes. The checklist outlines the types of Laboratory Work areas required, including provisions for safety and sanitation as well as the amount of air changes per hour required for adequate ventilation and the type of air pressure each space needs based on the type of activities taking place within.

These additional requirements add an extra layer of complexity on top of the typical programming and layout process. It is helpful to have a designer familiar with healthcare on the design team to navigate the Department of Public Health's submission process, as well as a designer that has experience with labs to ensure that lab best practices are also taken into consideration. The union of these two space types can truly make or break the efficiency of a hospital or clinic and impact the patient care experience. Collaboration between healthcare and life science can create a beautiful, functional space that truly performs.

A great example of such a venture is the COVID-19 Labs that were created at Lahey Hospital & Medical Center in 2020. In March of 2020, to keep up with the demand for faster test results, a team of Beth Israel Deaconess medical staff created their own COVID-19 tests, which then needed to be processed. This led to the necessity of testing labs within the various medical centers in the Beth Israel Lahey Health system. By working with the scientists and doctors to determine the specific needs of the lab that could be accommodated to keep the lab up and running during construction, the design team was able to fast track the project and create a new, dedicated COVID-19 testing lab within the hospital without having to shut down the existing lab. The quick turnaround of the new space with minimal downtime would not have been possible without the collaboration of the designers, doctors, engineers, and contractors.

Interested in reading more about this project? Check out this article from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.