Ian Scheffler
The importance of proper laboratory space is hard to understate. In the earliest labs, in places like ancient Egypt, alchemists, metallurgists and pharmacists might have had a furnace, a water basin and an alembic, a glass instrument for distilling liquids. But the scope of their experiments would have been severely limited by the capabilities of their equipment. To paraphrase Peter J. Morris’ The Matter Factory, science accelerates the development of laboratories, and those improvements in turn accelerate science.
Exactly what breakthroughs will be attributed to the new suite of Penn Engineering laboratories in West Philadelphia’s One uCity Square is impossible to predict, but tantalizing to contemplate. The building, developed by Wexford Science and Technology, now houses faculty from Penn Engineering and Penn Medicine, as well as the Center for Precision Engineering for Health (CPE4H), the Penn Institute for RNA Innovation, part of the National Science Foundation Artificial Intelligence-driven RNA Foundry (NSF AIRFoundry) and four private companies, bringing together hundreds of scientists focused on precision medicine.
“This is our braintrust for precision engineering for health,” says Vijay Kumar, Nemirosvky Family Dean of Penn Engineering. “We’ve never had so many experts in fields as diverse as drug delivery, gene editing and RNA-based science — all the researchers need to jumpstart a new project is an elevator ride.”
Space for Collaboration
Collaboration defines the 10th floor of One uCity Square, where five Penn Engineering faculty moved their labs this fall. Among them are Xue “Sherry” Gao, Penn Presidential Compact Associate Professor in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (CBE) and in Bioengineering (BE); Noor Momin, Stephenson Foundation Term Assistant Professor of Innovation in BE and the BE Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; Shujie Yang, Assistant Professor in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics (MEAM); Claudia Loebel, Assistant Professor in BE; Michael J. Mitchell, Associate Professor in BE; Yihui Shen, J. Peter and Geri Skirkanich Assistant Professor of Innovation in BE; and Daniel A. Hammer, Alfred G. and Meta A. Ennis Professor in BE and CBE and Director of CPE4H.
Designed with flexibility in mind, the labs are meant to evolve alongside the rapidly changing needs of precision medicine. “The overall goals of the space were to encourage collaboration, transparency and flexibility,” says Alison Fidler, Principal of ZGF Architects, the firm responsible for the design. Open floor plans, modular layouts and shared workspaces allow researchers to adjust their setups as new technologies or workflows emerge.
This emphasis on collaboration extends to the 10th floor’s visual and spatial design. “Each lab provides two-directional views through the building and the outside,” notes Fidler. “Low office partitions maximize daylight and ensure equitable lighting among researchers, while creating more transparency between users.” Because the building has windows on all sides, natural light streams through every lab, contributing to an atmosphere that feels open and connected.
In other words, Penn Engineering’s new space was built to remove the barriers — both physical and metaphorical — that normally partition researchers. “Nothing really separates us,” says Gao, whose work focuses on improving gene-editing methods like CRISPR. “When you eliminate physical barriers, it creates so much more collaboration.”
Putting Scientists — and Students — First
In addition to fostering collaboration, the design of Penn Engineering’s labs prioritizes the needs of the graduate students and postdoctoral fellows who carry out much of the day-to-day experimentation.
While principal investigators (PIs) guide the overall direction of research, it is the trainees who spend countless hours in the lab, running experiments, analyzing data and managing workflows. Recognizing this, ZGF Architects consulted not only with faculty but also with students to ensure the space would support their unique needs.
“We totally flipped the plan very shortly before a deadline to ensure that the student offices were around the floor’s perimeter, with the best sunlight and best views, even better than what you’ll find from the PIs’ offices,” says Momin. “That is a product of the fact that all the PIs prioritize the students — we know that they’re going to be here for long hours and should be benefiting from the best use of the space.”
This student-centered approach also extended to creating spaces for relaxation and informal interaction. Communal areas, such as the kitchen and seating spaces, were designed to foster camaraderie. “Even if it’s a bad day with experiments going wrong, at least it’s a good environment,” says Hilda Jafarah, a doctoral student in the Momin Lab. “The kitchen area is nice — it’s a space to talk to each other as peers and friends, to just hang out.”
Accelerating Science
Beyond improving morale, the thoughtful design of the space has directly accelerated the pace and quality of research. “Dry” workspaces (in contrast to the “wet” lab benches, with their micropipettes and chemicals) were added at the request of students, allowing them to focus on computational tasks or writing without distractions. “In the previous space, we didn’t have dry work areas,” says Jafarah. “Now we can read papers and do the computational parts of our research in an environment where we can drink coffee at the same time.”
The layout also encourages collaboration and efficiency, making it easier for researchers to share knowledge and resources. “Moving to this space allowed us to connect more easily with people doing similar work,” says Ricardo Whitaker, a postdoctoral fellow in the Momin and Mitchell Labs. “It’s easier to ask for reagents, help or advice — and to collaborate with others.”
The design reflects a deep understanding of the needs of scientists. “You go to some labs, and it’s clear a scientist wasn’t consulted in the design,” Whitaker adds. “Here, you can tell it was thought out with scientists in mind. It’s not just beautiful; it’s efficient.”
Students have also embraced improvements to workflow organization, which reduce bottlenecks and allow for more focused work. “We’ve done a great job designating common benches for heavy foot traffic and individual spaces for focused work,” says Emily Jacobs, a doctoral student in the Momin Lab. “We were able to experiment, see what we needed and design the space to be as functional as possible.”
This seamless integration of thoughtful design and collaborative culture has profoundly impacted the research process. “When students feel prioritized and heard, their morale goes up,” says Momin. “And our science, I think, has been accelerated by that.”
The Seeds of Innovation
Individually, the researchers working at One uCity Square have already achieved groundbreaking successes in their respective fields. Together, in this state-of-the-art facility, their labs have the potential to become more than the sum of their parts. With its thoughtfully designed spaces and focus on fostering collaboration, One uCity Square sets the stage for new discoveries that could redefine precision medicine and bioengineering.
“One uCity Square acts as a landmark for the rapidly growing research community in Philadelphia,” says ZGF Architects’ Coryne Casey, Associate Principal and Senior Lab Planner. “The building is successfully bringing together Penn Medicine and Penn Engineering under one roof. While each school occupies its own floors, the shared core facilities, like the one on floor two, encourage cross-disciplinary connections. Collision spaces between offices and labs on Penn Engineering’s floor create opportunities for impromptu meetings and new collaborations.”
“When we started planning this space, the pandemic shut down the world,” says David Meaney, Solomon R. Pollack Professor in BE and Senior Associate Dean of Penn Engineering. “Many of us heard the story about Drew Weissman and Katie Karikó spontaneously sharing ideas at a copy machine, ideas that later led to the COVID vaccines and helped us emerge from the pandemic and that became the basis of their Nobel Prize in Medicine. Seeing that such a landmark discovery was enabled by chance, we wanted to use our space to increase our chances of creating a series of ‘copy machine moments’ for our school and university.”