Lab Design Conference Tour Preview: Colorado School of Mines
Marquez Hall at the Colorado School of Mines, one of the lab tour options available at the 2025 Lab Design Conference. Image: Courtesy of Nic Lehoux
The 2025 Lab Design Conference in Denver offers more than just insightful sessions and networking opportunities—it invites you to step inside some of Colorado’s most advanced research and academic laboratories. With exclusive, behind-the-scenes access, these guided facility tours provide a unique, firsthand look at the future of lab design in action.
Scheduled for May 14, 2025, the lab tours include two morning options and one afternoon excursion, allowing participants to tailor their experience based on their interests. Please note that tour access is not included with standard conference registration and requires the purchase of an additional ticket. Spots are limited!
Option A of the 2025 Lab Design Conference tour series offers attendees an exclusive look into the future of interdisciplinary science and engineering education at the Colorado School of Mines. This morning tour showcases two premier facilities—Marquez Hall and the CoorsTek Center for Applied Science and Engineering—each representing the cutting edge in lab design, collaboration, and educational innovation. With a focus on transparency, functionality, and recruitment appeal, these buildings demonstrate how thoughtful architectural planning can support both current academic demands and future research trajectories.
Marquez Hall serves as a gateway to the school’s Earth Science Quad and signals a shift in focus from traditional petroleum engineering to emerging renewable energy fields. Its open-concept interiors, glass-walled laboratories, and immersive demonstration spaces not only promote hands-on learning but also inspire curiosity and collaboration among students and faculty. Just steps away, the CoorsTek Center embodies a similar ethos, with adaptable classrooms and interdisciplinary labs that break down barriers between departments. Its striking façade and contextual material palette further reinforce its role as a campus and community connector, supporting academic partnerships and industry engagement alike. This tour provides a valuable opportunity for lab planners, designers, and researchers to explore how architectural design can actively shape the future of science and engineering.
Lab Design News spoke with Mike Bowker, director of the Office of Design and Construction at the Colorado School of Mines, to gain insight into what attendees can look forward to during the upcoming lab tour. Bowker shared details about the unique features and educational goals embedded in the design of both Marquez Hall and the CoorsTek Center for Applied Science and Engineering. From flexible lab environments and transparent learning spaces to the integration of interdisciplinary collaboration, Bowker explains how these facilities not only support cutting-edge research but also serve as strategic tools for student engagement and recruitment. Tour participants will have the opportunity to explore how architecture and programming intersect to shape a more dynamic, forward-looking academic experience. Register now to get your spot on the tour before they’re all gone!
Q: What strategies used in Marquez Hall's design—particularly in supporting the transition from petroleum to renewable energy research—can lab design/build teams apply to evolving lab programs in other institutions?
A: The program in Marquez Hall is focused on working to locate energy reserves and design and develop methods for safe and effective extraction. Spaces within Marquez support a range of technologies from traditional energy sources, such as oil and natural gas, to emerging energy options like geothermal and carbon sequestration. Laboratories designed for flexibility and a large suite that combines undergrad teaching with laboratory experiences is a key to the success of Marquez Hall.
Q: How has the use of transparency and visibility in both buildings enhanced user engagement and interdisciplinary collaboration, and how might another project team incorporate similar features in future lab designs?
A: Glass at the corridors allows those passing through the building to view the spaces, equipment, faculty, staff and students doing the important work associated with the Petroleum Engineering program. Monitors in the lower level labs communicate the science going on inside without the clutter of poster boards taped to walls or pin up boards.
Q: What are some key lessons learned from designing and constructing the flexible, adaptive lab spaces in CoorsTek, especially in terms of supporting long-term research evolution and cross-disciplinary use?
The CoorsTek Center for Applied Science and Engineering at Colorado School of Mines features a striking 250-foot glazed façade and flexible, tech-rich spaces that promote interdisciplinary collaboration, adaptive learning, and community engagement. Image: Courtesy of Ron Pollard
A: Labs in both buildings keep fixed assets like fume hoods and sinks on the perimeter and provide moveable benches and equipment in the center of the space. Having overhead service carriers provides a variety of utilities for equipment that can evolve over time.
Q: How do the material choices—like terra cotta, glass, and aluminum—not only contribute to aesthetic appeal but also impact lab performance, sustainability, and user experience?
A: The use of durable sustainable materials like terra cotta and brick combined with a modern aesthetic on these two buildings reflects the forward-looking science and teaching activities conducted in each. Extensive daylighting and large spans of glass provide a connection to the outdoors and enhances the environment for learning and conducting research.
Q: In what ways do the circulation patterns, public spaces, and orientation of these buildings promote community interaction and connectivity—and how might that influence others' approach to campus integration and lab planning?
A: Each building provides a variety of common spaces where students can work in small groups or study individually. The engineering curriculum at Mines is demanding and these informal study spaces are highly utilized in both buildings. Marquez has a long south facing façade with a shaded overhang where students can spend time outdoors studying or connecting with others as over 1,000 students pass at the top of each hour. CoorsTek is on the campus main quad and uses seat walls to provide a spot to sit and study or connect with those tossing a Frisbee or navigating a slackline in the large lawn on the north side of the building.
Q: What unexpected challenges or innovations arose during the planning or operation of these lab facilities that the Lab Design Conference audience should be thinking about for their own projects?
A: The nature of a research lab is that it will change over time and may change quickly with turnover of the primary user. For CoorsTek, a new faculty member with a program requiring specialty equipment was hired late in the construction process. Since the original design did not have fixed equipment in the center of the room, accommodations for the new equipment were accommodated without too much difficulty.
Spots on the Lab Design Conference tours are limited! Register today to secure your ticket.
