Designing a Vivarium Inside and Out

Designing and building a lab animal facility is a complex process with many stakeholders and drivers. There’s a myriad of elements to consider, including the planned species/animals/animal experiments and the logistics of clean and dirty materials, animals, personnel, and research materials. Safety aspects are also necessary, including security, access control, infection control (bio-exclusion and bio-containment), and the control of hazardous substances—such as carcinogenic, mutagenic, and reprotoxic substances as gases and laboratory animal allergens.