University of Illinois

Renovation of the 1968 north addition and adjacent spaces of Freer Hall — infilling the existing pool and building out three levels of space needed for research — comprises wet labs, testing labs, microscope rooms, nutritional kitchen, shared equipment room, teaching spaces, offices and administrative spaces for the Department of Kinesiology and Community Health. The spaces support the University’s goal of providing shared resources for multiple labs, rather than the traditional one-to-one researcher-to-lab model.

The Department plans to hire 10 new faculty members to research therapies focused on Multiple Sclerosis, other disabilities and rehabilitation.

The project includes:

• Six test labs and one group testing lab, with blood-draw, metabolic kitchen, and subject observation
• Two clinical test labs
• Shared biochemistry lab, with cell/tissue culture and glass wash support labs, and one microscope room
• One lab equipment room (specimen storage)

HERA also provided laboratory equipment planning services, documenting the department’s existing equipment, future movable lab equipment for use in the design process by the project team and user groups, along with specifying new built-in lab equipment that is included in the construction contract. The project is targeting LEED Gold.