Building animal houses that scientists, technicians and animals thrive in
Richard Fosse
Aventis Pharma, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
A modern laboratory animal facility is a high technology building that does much more than merely house animals. The picture of an agrarian scene with barns and hay stacks is as removed from the animal research building complexes of today as the Wright plane is from a Space Shuttle. The animal
facility of today is a high-tech instrument designed to give optimal, reproducible, verifiable scientific results. It is also one of the most expensive building types that have to be budgeted. Running expenses can appear to be formidable.
The animals housed in such facilities are specifically bred, defined and in some cases designed for this purpose and their ability to respond to scientific questions is contingent on building design and technical excellence. Failure in building design can lead to failure of scientific projects.
Modern animal facilities are also place in which living creatures - human and animal - must work and co-exist. Human and animal welfare can at times conflict with each other and modern designs must take this into account.
Design should allow high hygiene standards while allowing olfactory and auditory cues to coexist. Work surface must be easily cleaned and also be slip-proof. The animal house is a repository for allergens that affect human workers. These are a few of the issues than will need to be considered
before a design is finalised and budget committed to a project.
This lecture will look at some of these issues and discuss solutions and the problems and conflicts that arise when having to choose between them.
Back to the Scand-LAS 2002 Symposium programme.
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