Lab Design Conference Speaker Profile: Jim Blount
Jim Blount, principal, life sciences market sector leader at Ellenzweig Architects, will deliver the opening keynote at the 2025 Lab Design Conference in Denver. Register today to reserve your spot!
Jim Blount, principal, life sciences market sector leader at Ellenzweig Architects, will open the 2025 Lab Design Conference in Denver, CO with his presentation, “How to Prepare for an Uncertain Future.” The keynote will take place on May 12 at 8:00-9:00 a.m.
Laboratory design is becoming increasingly complex due to shifting research priorities, supply chain disruptions, and rising construction costs. Jim’s session will explore how industry stakeholders—architects, planners, contractors, and lab managers—are adapting to these challenges with forward-thinking strategies. Attendees will gain insights into risk mitigation, flexible design approaches, and best practices for ensuring lab facilities remain adaptable and future-ready.
Lab Design News recently interviewed Jim to discuss the key uncertainties shaping the future of lab design, strategies for creating adaptable spaces for emerging technologies, and the collaboration skills attendees will gain from his Lab Design Conference presentation.
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Q: What are the biggest uncertainties currently shaping the future of laboratory design, and how can stakeholders proactively prepare for them?
A: The answer is different depending upon the stakeholder. For research faculty it is certainly the reduction in funding for their research. How to prepare? Less funding generally leads to smaller research groups and less money for equipment. Smaller group sizes and budgets are beginning to drive more collaborations and increases in the sharing of resources including materials, equipment, and instrumentation.
For facilities design and construction departments, it’s the reduction in funding for research facilities and the associated challenges in reduced indirect cost recovery from dwindling research community. How to prepare? Less funding for research translates to less capital for new facilities and it’s driving the need to make the highest and best use of their existing stock of space and buildings to create inherently flexible and easily adaptable laboratories.
Q: With shifting research priorities and evolving technologies, how can lab designers create spaces that remain adaptable and functional for years to come?
A: Continue to innovate: While the scientific laboratory marketplace has seen vast improvements in laboratory products, casework and services that promote versatility in lab environments, there is still a need for us to innovate. As lab designers we can create inherently flexible and readily adaptable spaces filling the void left by the manufacturers.
Q: What are some innovative strategies that design teams, institutions and manufacturers are using to mitigate the impact of rising construction costs and supply chain disruptions?
A: Here are some considerations:
Rising construction costs:
Re-use existing building stock: While not so innovative, some clients are looking towards their existing lab building stock and even non-lab buildings for repurposing these aged buildings to viable lab space.
Densification: Coupled with the space efficiencies resulting from sharing materials, equipment, and instrumentation, we are now planning for tighter space metrics placing more bench researchers into less space.
Supply chain disruptions—for the past five years, many of our projects start off with risk assessment strategy sessions:
Diversification of supply chains: Companies are exploring alternative suppliers, including domestic sources and non-tariff affected markets, to mitigate exposure.
Alternative material usage: With steel and aluminum often at the center of tariff disputes, some projects are exploring composite materials or other substitutes.
Trade wars and tariffs: Some foreign manufacturers of laboratory products and systems are starting to discuss the formation of strategic alliances with US companies to manufacture their products or materials in the US to get around the tariffs.
Q: How can better collaboration between architects, planners, contractors, and lab managers help ensure laboratory spaces are built to withstand future challenges?
A: Take the lead from our scientific clients who have been collaborating across scientific disciplines for years—buildings for science are complex facilities that come with challenges and require a highly collaborative multidisciplinary approach to every aspect of the project, from the early stages of programming and concept design to material selections during the design to alternative suppliers and conflict resolution during the construction phase.
Q: For attendees who want to future-proof their own lab projects, what are the top takeaways from your Lab Design Conference keynote session that they can immediately apply?
A: What are the biggest challenges facing both clients and the design industry today? How are organizations are responding to these pressures? What proactive strategies can design teams implement to mitigate risks and future-proof laboratory spaces?
Register today to reserve your ticket!
