Over the last decade, traditional office and R&D designs have failed to serve new business models and employment arrangements; the results have been visible at the bottom line of balance sheets. The real bottom line is this: Better workplaces make for better business.

Greg Herman, program manager at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) discusses his experiences planning, designing and constructing the Biological Sciences Facility and the Computational Sciences Facility at PNNL.

Of late, designers and operators of laboratory spaces are beginning to encourage clients to consider an unusual and often unconsidered aspect of research facilities: how laboratory design and amenities contribute to a research organizations ability to attract and retain top scientific talent.

Unlike offices, laboratories require infrastructure that is costly and not readily available in commercial real estate.