Laboratory Design & Equipment Services

Complete Laboratory Design & Equipment Services

Full-service laboratory design — casework, fume hoods, workstations, shelving, and specialty equipment for research, clinical, and industrial labs.

Labs USA designs laboratories for every discipline — chemistry, biology, physics, forensics, environmental testing, pharmaceutical development, and quality control. We combine laboratory planning expertise with partnerships from industry-leading manufacturers to deliver lab environments that meet your scientific requirements, regulatory standards, and budget constraints.

Our laboratory design process starts with understanding your science — what tests you run, what instruments you use, how many people work in the lab, and how samples flow through your workflow. From there, we create CAD layouts that optimize bench space, fume hood placement, storage density, and utility access. Every lab is designed for safety, efficiency, and future flexibility.

Whether you’re building a new research lab, upgrading a teaching lab, or renovating a 30-year-old facility, Labs USA manages the entire project — design, procurement, installation, and validation.

Laboratory design is both a science and an art. The science involves meeting precise requirements for ventilation rates, chemical containment, electrical capacity, and structural loading. The art involves creating a workspace that supports the daily rhythm of laboratory work — intuitive bench layouts where reagentsand instruments are within arm’s reach, fume hoods positioned to avoid cross-drafts from doorwaysand HVAC vents, and storage systems that keep frequently used supplies accessible while maximizing capacity for the full chemical inventory.

Our laboratory furniture partners manufacture casework in steel, wood, and stainless steel configurations to match your application. Steel casework provides maximum durability and chemical resistance for high-use chemistry and industrial labs. Wood casework offers warmth and traditional aesthetics for academic and administrative settings. Stainless steel casework meets the clean-ability requirements of pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and food science laboratories. Each option comes in fixed, mobile, and adjustable-height configurations to match your specific workflow needs.

Why Labs Choose Us

Decades of lab planning experience combined with top-tier manufacturer partnerships.

Lab Furniture Expertise

We specify lab furniture from top manufacturers — Kewaunee, Hamilton Scientific, Labconco, and Mott Manufacturing. Fixed, mobile, and adjustable casework with chemical-resistant surfaces built to handle years of daily laboratory use. Our furniture experts match each countertop material to your chemical environment, budget, and aesthetic preferences.

Ventilation Engineering

Proper fume hood placement, face velocity calibration, room air balance, and exhaust system design are critical for laboratory safety. We coordinate with your mechanical engineer to ensure ventilation meets ANSI/AIHA Z9.5 standards, ASHRAE 110 performance criteria, and your institution’s environmental health and safety requirements.

Flexible Lab Design

Labs change — new instruments, new tests, new staff, evolving regulatory requirements. Our modular casework systems, mobile benches, and flexible overhead utility connections let your lab adapt to these changes without major renovation. When your lab needs a new mass spectrometer or additional prep area, the furniture moves to accommodate it.

Safety-First Approach

Emergency eyewash stations, safety showers, chemical storage cabinets, biological waste containers, sharps disposal, and clear egress routes designed per OSHA 1910.1450, NFPA 45, NFPA 30, and your institution’s safety standards. We position safety equipment within code-required distances of every chemical handling area.

The Laboratory Design Process

Our lab design process follows a proven sequence that eliminates surprisesand delivers labs that work from day one. It starts with a comprehensive programming phase where we catalog your instruments, workflows, staffing patterns, chemical inventories, and utility requirements.

From programming data, we create preliminary floor plans that show casework placement, fume hood locations, utility rough-in points, and traffic patterns. We present multiple layout optionsand iterate with your team until the design matches your vision. Then we produce detailed construction documents — elevations, sections, utility schedules, and specifications — that your contractor uses for bidding and construction.

During construction, our project manager coordinates furniture delivery, installation sequencing, and final connections. We inspect every installation for quality, verify utility connections, and commission fume hoodsand safety systems. You receive a completed lab that’s ready for move-in — not a furniture delivery that still needs weeks of finish work.

Post-occupancy, we remain available for modifications, additions, and ongoing support. Labs evolve constantly — new instruments require new utility connections, expanding test menus demand additional bench space, and growing staff need reconfigured workstations. Our modular casework designs anticipate these changes, making future modifications efficient and cost-effective compared to built-in millwork that requires demolition and reconstruction.

Laboratory Design Considerations

Fume Hood Planning: Fume hoods are the single most expensive item in most laboratory budgets, both in purchase price and ongoing energy costs. Proper fume hood planning involves selecting the right type — conventional, bypass, low-flow, or ductless — based on your chemical exposuresand ventilation budget. We determine the optimal number, size, and placement of fume hoods based on your testing protocols, then coordinate duct routing and exhaust fan sizing with your mechanical engineer. Variable air volume (VAV) systems can reduce energy costs by 40-60% compared to constant volume hoods while maintaining safe face velocities.

Flexible Infrastructure: Laboratories evolve constantly — new instruments replace old ones, testing methods change, and staff levels fluctuate. We design flexible infrastructure with modular casework that can be reconfigured without demolition, overhead service carriers that provide utilities from above the bench (eliminating under-floor plumbing modifications), and standardized utility connection points that accept different equipment configurations. This flexibility means your lab adapts to changing needs without expensive renovation projects.

Ergonomics: Laboratory workers spend long hours performing repetitive tasks — pipetting, microscopy, and computer work take a physical toll. Our designs address ergonomics with adjustable-height benches, proper task lighting, anti-fatigue flooring, and workstation layouts that minimize reaching and twisting. Standing-height and sitting-height bench combinations allow staff to alternate postures throughout the day, reducing fatigue and musculoskeletal injuries.

Laboratory Design FAQs

Why Choose Material Handling USA for Your Laboratory?

Labs USA brings decades of laboratory planning experience to every project. Our designers have completed hundreds of lab installations across research, clinical, teaching, industrial, and forensic applications. We understand the specific requirements of each lab type and design environments that support your scientific mission while meeting all applicable regulations.

Our direct relationships with leading lab furniture manufacturers — Kewaunee, Hamilton Scientific, Mott Manufacturing, Labconco, and others — give you access to premium products at competitive prices. We handle the entire project lifecycle from initial programming through design, procurement, installation, and validation, ensuring your lab is ready for productive science from day one. Call (800) 326-4403 for a free lab assessment.

Laboratory Types We Design

Labs USA designs laboratories across the full spectrum of scientific disciplinesand industries. Clinical laboratories for hospitals, reference labs, and physician offices are our most common projects — from small CLIA-waived testing rooms to large high-complexity reference laboratories processing thousands of specimens daily. We design chemistry, hematology, microbiology, blood bank, molecular diagnostics, and anatomic pathology sections with discipline-specific casework, ventilation, and utility requirements.

Research laboratories for universities, pharmaceutical companies, and biotech firms require flexible designs that accommodate evolving experimentsand changing investigators. We create adaptable lab spaces with modular casework, overhead service carriers, and standardized utility connections that allow researchers to reconfigure their workspace as projects change. BSL-2 and BSL-3 containment labs receive specialized design attention for air pressure cascades, decontamination areas, and waste handling systems.

Environmental testing laboratories, food safety labs, cannabis testing facilities, and forensic laboratories each present unique design challenges thatour team has solved across multiple installations. Water testing labs need specialized plumbing for sample preparation. Food safety labs require cleanable surfacesand segregated microbiology areas. Cannabis labs need extraction equipment ventilation and hazardous material storage. Forensic labs demand chain-of-custody workflowsand evidence storage integration.

Industrial quality control laboratories — metallurgy, polymer testing, petroleum analysis, and materials science — operate in manufacturing environments where the lab must withstand industrial vibration, temperature fluctuations, and heavy instrument loads. Our designs isolate sensitive analytical instruments from environmental interference while maintaining efficient workflow connections between the laband production floor.

Whether your project is a 200-square-foot physician office labor a 20,000-square-foot reference laboratory, Labs USA provides the same level of design expertise, manufacturer partnerships, and project management. We scale our process to match your project scope while maintaining the quality and attention to detail that every laboratory demands.

Labs USA maintains direct factory partnerships with the leading laboratory furniture and equipment manufacturers — giving your project access to the widest product selection, factory engineering support, and competitive pricing that independent dealers cannot match. Our project managers coordinate between manufacturers, contractors, and your team to deliver a completed lab on schedule and within budget.