GMP and Beautiful Design - Moving Beyond the "Big White Box" 🏢🌿

One of the many distinguishing features of working at Vow was the beautiful R&D space. Designed to feature natural light and a sense of openness and inclusivity (with an abundance of glass walls) 🌞🔬, I feel privileged to have spent time in that environment. Before my time at Vow, if asked how to design a new lab space, my answer would have been, "just build a big white box and make sure it is compliant." It was only through Vow's cofounder Tim Noakesmith that I learned the value of beautiful spaces.

The lab space at Vow is welcoming and invites you to observe and understand the incredible science happening daily 👀🧪. After experiencing Vow's lab, I am fully converted to the power of incorporating beauty into functional design 🌸🛠️.

Given this shift in my thinking, I eagerly sat down for a coffee ☕ with nic van der nol from PharmOut. Nic is a specialist life sciences architect who has been designing GMP compliant lab spaces around the world for over 20 years 🌍🏗️. During our conversation, we discussed how design and beautiful spaces can provide value to companies through employee well-being, greater productivity, and improved physical and mental health 🧘‍♂️💡. A beautiful lab-space can even act as a recruitment tool (I never want to work in a big white box ever again!). The two things that really stood out for me during our conversation were the passion that Nic demonstrated for incorporating beauty into the functional design of spaces, and his willingness to answer all my questions about design, regardless of how naive they were.

So, if you're ready to start designing your own lab space or looking to improve or repurpose an existing space, I highly recommend contacting Nic for a chat 📞👷‍♂️.

What are the most beautiful lab spaces that you've seen? I'm a big fan of the new CSL building in Melbourne 🏙️, and I'm super excited to see the finished CoLabs Australia lab space out at Monash 🔬🏢.

[Note: I have no commercial interest in either Nic or PharmOut, I'm just excited to see scientists and researchers benefit from working in spaces that have been designed to make them want to come into work every day!]