How to Design a Laboratory
Discoveries happen at benches.
Buildings make them possible.
Learn to design environments where science thrives, precise, safe, and genuinely inspiring, and claim a specialism that keeps serious clients calling you back.
Lab planning logic will click into place for you.
- Design for discovery — in rooms where absolute precision and open creativity must coexist
- Master exacting requirements — that scare off casual competitors before they even bid
- Keep researchers safe — through hundreds of careful decisions they will never even notice
- Serve science confidently — for clients ranging from universities to secretive private innovators
- Blend rigour with delight — in buildings that everyone had quietly assumed must be dull
- Secure specialist standing — in a field with real barriers to entry
Built by one of the most-read architecture platforms in the world.
RTF | Rethinking The Future has spent over a decade publishing the ideas, projects and voices shaping architecture — and now brings that depth to learning. Every course is researched, written and produced by the RTF team.
Science needs great spaces. Supply them.
A clear path. Five steps.
Everything unlocks instantly with membership · learn at your own pace
If you see yourself here, start today.
A few hours from now, you could already see differently.
Lab design terrified me because one wrong adjacency can compromise the science. Learning containment levels, service distribution and the rhythm of write-up versus bench space gave me a reliable framework. I now approach laboratory briefs methodically instead of leaning entirely on specialist consultants.
Simple by design.
Watch
Short, focused video lessons — each one a single idea, clearly explained.
Apply
End every lesson with a small task that pushes your real project forward.
Transform
Watch your work develop a point of view that is unmistakably yours.
Answered simply.
Do I need a science background to design laboratories?
No. The course translates lab requirements — containment, services, workflows, safety — into architectural decisions you can reason about and defend.
Does it cover both research and teaching labs?
It teaches the shared fundamentals and then shows how the brief shifts between research, teaching and industrial settings.
Do I need any prior experience?
No. Every course starts from where you are and builds up step by step, in plain language.
Is this software training?
No — software changes yearly. The thinking you learn here lasts a career.
How does it work?
Short video lessons with a small practice task after each. Any device, your pace.
What does membership include?
One membership unlocks every course on RTF Academy — all 450+, nothing sold separately. And you stay in control: cancel anytime in one click, and you will never be charged again.
Ready to see your work change?
Your next project could be the one that feels truly yours.
- 5 Sections
- 25 Lessons
- 4 Hours
- 1. Understanding the Type5
- 2. Brief, Programme and Areas5
- 3. Planning and Circulation5
- 4. Codes, Comfort and Systems5
- 5. Getting It Built and Judged5
Reviews
Online and at your own pace.
Get access to all learning content
and every RTF Academy course with RTF Academy Pro
Lab design terrified me because one wrong adjacency can compromise the science. Learning containment levels, service distribution and the rhythm of write-up versus bench space gave me a reliable framework. I now approach laboratory briefs methodically instead of leaning entirely on specialist consultants.
You might be interested in
-
0 Students
-
25 Lessons
-
0 Students
-
25 Lessons
-
0 Students
-
25 Lessons
-
0 Students
-
25 Lessons
Sign up to receive our latest updates
Explore Courses
Policy
- © 2026 RTF Academy | Rethinking The Future. All Rights Reserved
- Connect with us