Reimagining the Future of Public Health

The Los Angeles Public Health Lab (LAPHL) serves 10 million people from a sprawling, single-storey facility with a dated layout, preventing efficient arrival and transportation of samples on the campus and hindering modern workflows. To develop an improved lab space that supports efficiency and staff wellbeing, the project team was challenged to deliver “more with less,” designing a hybrid mass timber and steel facility prepared for accelerated delivery that promotes occupant health and embraces a sustainable future. 

Streamlining Science 

With new labs, receiving areas and an improved layout where accessioning — receiving samples 24/7 — is located adjacent to the new warehouse, daily workflows can be streamlined, allowing lab samples to be processed, transported and paired with kits for seamless distribution. Utilizing a “side core” that can serve a building twice its current size, the facility’s labs are open to views on three sides, bringing in light and putting work on display. A mass timber and steel prefabricated structural system also makes this facility one of North America's first mass timber labs designed to a stringent 2000 mips floor stiffness. By embracing modularity, modern materials and efficient systems, these design practices significantly reduce construction timeline and costs to realize a more sustainable laboratory setting.

Key features include:

• All-electric air-to-water heat pump to save energy and costs
• Side cores allow for more space and opportunities for future expansion
• Reduced floor-to-floor heights from approximately 4.6 metres to 3.8 metres for decreased envelope costs and building volume

Setting a New Standard in Lab Design

With the help of a modular, mass timber and steel hybrid system, this lab delivers more potential with less space and embraces a carbon-conscious yet enhanced work setting. With open green space for respite, exposed mass timber and glass clerestory windows providing natural daylight, the new facility at LAPHL promotes connection to nature and employee well-being in an advanced laboratory environment, setting an impressive new precedent on the public health lab campus.