The University of Pennsylvania was conducting all of its core general chemistry teaching in laboratories that had not seen significant renovation since their construction in 1958. We designed a comprehensive renovation of these spaces based on current teaching methodologies. As a first step, the design team met with faculty to review teaching modules, observe class lab operations and identify curricular changes and exigencies that would shape the new labs.

The response is an innovative studio lab concept that supports multiple pedagogies including individual inquiry-based modules, paired student projects, seminar-sized team learning as well as large 45-person lecture formats. Lab furniture has been treated in a highly customized way, but then regularized and repeated to create an economy of scale to achieve customized casework at an off-the-shelf cost.

The utilization rates of these classrooms were maximized by working with the faculty to develop a new strategy for lab setup and materials handling. This more efficient layout allows space to be freed up to create more generous public areas and student amenities. Similarly, the design team worked with the instructional modules to minimize the need for students to walk with materials and zone the rooms into wet zones for procedures and dry zones for instrumentation.