How do you design research labs for unknown technologies?

When it came time to expand the campus to advance Fermilab’s research focus on neutrinos—the universe’s most abundant particle, so tiny its mass cannot be weighed—a rigorous yet creative approach was needed. The Integrated Engineering Research Center (IERC) would be the largest purpose-built lab and office building on the campus since Wilson Hall opened in 1974. It was envisioned to bring together, under one roof, different research teams, technicians, and engineers from various disciplines who had previously been scattered across the campus. This would enable collaboration in support of the international DUNE (Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment) project, which aims to unlock the mystery of neutrinos to help us better understand the universe, how it works, and why we are here.

The new IERC had to support ongoing experiments, but it also had to be extremely adaptable and able to accommodate future uses that cannot be anticipated today. Most importantly, it would need to connect to Wilson Hall, further facilitating interaction between the engineering community and researchers. But it had to make its own bold statement without overshadowing the historic structure.

Instead of simply guessing about future uses, Fermilab and its design team collaborated on detailed interviews with dozens of engineers and scientists who would be using the new labs. They then reviewed a wide range of scientific use-cases for projects planned on a 20-year horizon to best understand the types of spatial support that speculative projects might demand, like clean-class requirements and fabrication and assembly capabilities, as well as the need to house equipment and services.

Examining the data led to a set of guiding principles for the design. To enable maximum flexibility for future unknown uses, the team specified functional placeholders and spaces that could be adapted as needs became clearly defined over time.

“The completed building is exactly what we set out to achieve,” says Erik Gottschalk, Fermilab’s science liaison for the building design, “which is largely a result of the requirements process driving the design, rather than the design being driven by a bunch of opinions about what the building should look like.”

The 82,000-square-foot concrete-and-glass IERC emerged as a two-story linear structure that takes cues from Wilson Hall’s proportions and language while nodding to its profile in section. Inside, the team developed a modular approach to space allocation and building systems, enabling plug-and-play for future spatial requirements and systems.

On the ground floor, project labs for large-scale needs lead off either side of a long central support spine that supplies services like power, gasses, data, and exhaust. In addition to a variety of ISO classified clean room facilities, other labs are designed to be clean-class “capable” and can be retrofitted on an as-needed-basis, minimizing unnecessary infrastructure and greatly helping the bottom line. Open workspaces employ modular components, making them ideal environments for interdisciplinary collaboration. Hybrid and testing labs occupy the second level, ringed by daylight-drenched offices along the building’s perimeter.

In addition to bringing people together, the new building puts a premium on visual connections. Besides the ample glazing that links occupants to the world outside, transparency between interior spaces dominates where it makes sense. For example, visual learning laboratories invite visitors on guided tours to observe the work happening here.

With the new IERC, Fermilab upholds its commitment to innovation and continues its tradition of investing in smart design. The building meets today’s functional and human requirements while preparing for tomorrow’s ever-evolving needs. It is uniquely positioned to help advance critical scientific investigation and further our understanding of the universe. “It puts science on display,” says Gottschalk, “with a view to the future.”