We are excited to announce the sixth annual Design Excellence Awards, presented by Lab Design. The Design Excellence Awards is a program developed to recognize and celebrate the best new projects within the lab design community. 

The deadline to apply is December 6, 2024.

Following the highly successful launch of this awards program by Lab Manager in 2020, Lab Design is proud to celebrate everyone who touches the lab design process—from the architect and lab planner to the engineer and equipment and furniture manufacturers. In order to be recognized, we ask that you put your passion for your recent lab projects into words—and, by doing so, enter into an elite community within the lab design world. Your entry should describe and demonstrate to our judges why your vision, execution, and delivery of the final lab was unique, and show how it brings a new level of excellence to the lab design community.

The Design Excellence Awards will be presented at the Lab Design Conference in Denver, Colorado on May 12, 2025.

* Gain international recognition for your team’s hard work

* Showcase the features that make your lab a role model for those looking to design and build similar facilities

* Explain how your lab benefits the community as a whole, as well as the steps you’ve taken to create a healthier, happier work environment for your staff

* Call attention to the challenges you overcame in the design/build process in order to help others facing similar challenges in their own projects

* Demonstrate your facility’s sustainability and safety initiatives and how they can help make all labs “greener” and safer places to work

Awards will be given for Whole Building/Holistic Design, Sustainable Design, Interior Design, and Small Project Design. Winners will be interviewed for articles featured in Lab Design, and will receive a digital badge/logo to display on their website and social media.

Winners will also be awarded a plaque, which can be awarded in person at the Lab Design Conference on May 12, 2025 in Denver, CO; or mailed to their office.

Honorable Mention and any other awards will be given solely at the judges’ discretion. Honorable Mention will receive a digital badge/logo to display on their website and social media, and will be sent a certificate. 

Whole Building/Holistic Design 

This category will recognize buildings that have been designed to accommodate an evolving scientific ecosystem which fosters collaboration and forward-thinking research. Project teams should demonstrate that these buildings were designed with the user in mind, and that the user’s input was incorporated into the entire facility in order to enhance the office/lab relationship. The laboratories within these facilities should include design features, mechanical systems, and amenities that enhance worker productivity and the research while maintaining a safe, comfortable environment that promotes the health and well-being of its occupants. This category will acknowledge designs that foster a sense of belonging for those that work in the labs as well as those in the surrounding community.

Sustainable Design

This category will recognize projects which show the most positive influence on energy savings and green lab initiatives. Labs in this category should demonstrate how the sustainable design of the facility has improved lab operations and led to tangible improvements in costs and energy efficiency. Projects entered in this category should discuss how the building’s mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems address cost savings; entries should also describe the sustainability benefits of the materials selected for casework, finishes, flooring/wall/ceiling components, laboratory equipment, etc.

Interior Design

This category recognizes projects where interior design positively influences and impacts the research within the labs, rather than focusing on the entire building. Entries should demonstrate how the furnishings, casework, lighting, components (flooring, walls, ceilings), etc. create a productive and comfortable laboratory research environment. Project teams should describe how the interior design impacts occupant comfort and mental health and wellness, and demonstrate how the labs have been designed for accessibility in order to accommodate an increasingly diverse workforce.

Small Project Design

This category celebrates projects with a total cost of under $20 million USD, in order to recognize the project teams who have successfully created a modern research/innovation space without access to a large project budget or a large project team. Entrants should demonstrate how to make the most of a small budget, by explaining how the cost per square footage was maximized during the design and construction process. Describe the solutions the project team came up with for the unique challenges that come with a small project.