Facility Design

Vivarium Design

Vivarium Renovation: Avoid the Common Pitfalls
All renovation planning can benefit from following a checklist of efficient energy and operationally attainable goals.
Emerging Issues in Research, Housing and Vivarium Design
ALN World asked research practitioners and vivarium design professionals about the future of vivarium design. Here are their answers.
How Do You Measure Quality in a Vivarium?
It’s pretty easy to grasp the concept of quality when you are talking about various things such as consumer products.

Green Design

Real Applications of Green Strategies in Vivaria
Facility profiles at the Texas A&M University and the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute
Environmental Procurement: Thinking Beyond the Project
Environmental procurement can reduce operating costs, reduce the impact vivarium facilities can have on the environment, and promote sustainability and waste reduction.
Material Resources for Building Green Vivariums
The following article is an excerpt from “The Green Vivarium: Strategies for Sustainability” being developed by the Green Vivarium Foundation. The intent of these guidelines is to encourage the implementation of sustainable strategies and to illustrate the benefits of sustainable design in vivarium facilities.

Automation

What Gets Measured Gets Done
Nobody needs to tell you that those big shiny stainless steel machines down in your cage wash area cost a lot of money to purchase, operate, and maintain.
User Knows Best: Post-Occupancy Conversations
The final judges of how well a vivarium has been designed and constructed are its users—the personnel who work in it on a daily basis and keep it operating 24/7/365.
Welfare Assessment of Laboratory Animals: Current Good Practice and Some Outstanding Issues
An overview on setting protocols for assessing the welfare of laboratory animals.

Facility Security

Determined Aggressor Assessment
How can we measure the effectiveness of a security program without having an incident?
Designing With Security In Mind
Globalising animal rights issues and the targeting of secondary and tertiary targets means that all animal laboratory organisations must make security a top priority during the design/build process.
New Fire Protection Code Will Impact Animal Facilities
Implementation of NFPA 150 in its current form will have widespread space planning impacts, cost implications, and could functionally prohibit the use of common protocols and equipment within laboratory related Animal Housing Facilities.

Aquatic Facilities

Zebrafish: The Challenge of Standardization in a Maturing Research Model
With the growing presence of zebrafish in labs internationally, participants at a recent workshop discussed action items for consistent care and use standards that are scientifically-based.
The Fish Room: A Machine for Research
The new research facility “type” is aquatic — and with the introduction of water into the research environment, a new set of room design parameters is rising to the surface of the industry.
Laboratory Design to Support Marine Animals
Designing science laboratories that support healthy marine animals requires environmental alignment with dynamic seawater coastlines, presenting numerous issues for architects and engineers.

Core Facilities

Emerging Issues in Research, Housing and Vivarium Design
ALN World asked research practitioners and vivarium design professionals about the future of vivarium design. Here are their answers.
Living Through Construction (Horror Stories and Fairy Tales)
Construction is a messy business in the best of circumstances—but trying to maintain a functioning vivarium while surrounded by the din, dirt, and disruption of construction is next to impossible.
Animal Facility Procedure Rooms: Design and Use
Animal holding rooms (AHR), rack systems, HVAC and other similar topics are frequently discussed during the design phase of an animal facility new construction or renovation project.

Disaster Planning

When Failure is Not an Option
How do businesses identify potential failures within their operations and mitigate risks associated with things like equipment breakdowns, utility and supply chain disruptions, facility issues, etc.? The answer is a methodology called “Process Failure Mode and Effects Analysis” or PFMEA.
The Case For A "One Health" Paradigm Shift
The One Health concept calls for a merging of perspectives from within human and veterinary medical disciplines.
Climate For Change?
Dr. Greg Norris talks with Executive Editor Jim Wallace about climate change and how this will have an impact on laboratory animal facility operations.

Layout and Planning