As a leading academic medical center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center needed to expand programs beyond the medical campus. The Cool Springs Life Science Center (CSLC) Drug Discovery Laboratory is the first wet research facilty located beyond the medical center campus. It advances the long term goals of VUMC by drawing a connection between its innovative research and clinical functions with which the community has become familiar.

The project consists of the build-out of 13,000 SF of shell space on the first level of an existing developer-constructed science center. The build-out includes 8,000 SF of wet lab space, an NMR, offices, a conference room, break area, and additional ancillary spaces. The lab space is comprised of modular casework with approximately 32 fume hoods and is designed to the same standards established on the medical center campus.

The layout provides an open laboratory plan with visual connections to the offices and break areas through glass partitions. Open ceilings with exposed mechanicals complement the innovative and highly technical research performed in the lab. New dedicated mechanical systems were designed to accomodate the technical requirements of the lab facility. The project is LEED Gold certified.