R&D Magazine is proud to announce the 2012 Laboratory of the Year winners. These laboratories represent the pinnacle of design and execution in architecture for research and development.

New construction facilities dominated this year's competition, but beyond this common theme none of this year’s top new laboratories shared many design characteristics. One winner exemplified green and sustainable building practices. Another was built as an incubator rather than a traditional laboratory. And one was conceived and built to be one of the most advanced chemistry R&D facilities in the world.

The overall winner, the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, offers of a vision of what next-generation laboratories can be. Instead of an ivory tower in the academic distance, the 2012 R&D Magazine Laboratory of the Year is enmeshed into the social and economic fabric of its surroundings in a way that didn’t impinge on its ability to promote successful research.

In addition to the top award presented to the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery, the 2012 Laboratory of the Year judges awarded the Frick Chemistry Laboratory at Princeton University, N.J., and the Kansas Bioscience Park Venture Accelerator in Olathe with High Honors.

Earning Special Mention award in the Sustainability category, the University of California, Riverside's School of Medicine Research Building was singled out for its attention to detail in constructing a highly efficient laboratory building.

Now in its 46th year, the Laboratory of the Year competition evaluates laboratory facilities on lab planning and design, flow, plant operations, aesthetics, energy efficiency, sustainability, cost, and more. The judging panel included architects, lab planners, construction project managers, a vendor representative from SEFA (Scientific Equipment and Furniture Association, co-sponsor of the Laboratory of the Year competition), and the editors of R&D Magazine and Laboratory Design Newsletter.

Representatives of the winning facilities and design teams will be officially recognized at R&D Magazine's Laboratory Design Conference. The design teams will provide presentations, including slide shows and discussions with the winning teams, as part of the Laboratory Design Conference program, which will be held Tuesday, April 17, at Pittsburgh Marriott City Center.

2012 Laboratory Design Conference

Profiles of each facility will be published in the May/June 2012 issues of Laboratory Design Newsletter and R&D Magazine.

About R&D Magazine

Since its founding in 1959 as Industrial Research, R&D Magazine has served research scientists, engineers and technical staff at laboratories around the world, providing timely, informative news and useful technical articles that broaden readers’ knowledge of the research and development industry and improve the quality of their work. R&D Magazine is a publication of Advantage Business Media.