ON THE MAP | High-Performance Interior Design for Illinois Tech’s Urban Lab Hub

Perkins&Will designs a future-ready interior for Illinois Tech at Fulton Labs, optimized for advanced science, visibility, and research-industry integration.
Oct. 27, 2025
2 min read

Key Highlights

  • Open, modular lab planning supports rapid reconfiguration of equipment and interdisciplinary research teams.
  • Glass partitions maximize visibility between zones, reinforcing collaboration and a transparent culture of science.
  • Electrochromic glazing and acoustic treatments balance daylight and openness with performance and user comfort.
  • Flexible support rooms shift between research, teaching, and industry engagement without requiring programmatic overhaul.
Image by Trammell Crow Company
Daytime exterior view of the Fulton Labs building at 400 N Aberdeen in Chicago’s Fulton Market district, showing its glass curtainwall facade, dark metal mullions, adjacent city skyline, and urban street frontage.

By locating in the heart of Chicago’s Fulton Market at the 400 N Aberdeen building, Illinois Tech positions its research program within a thriving commercial–academic innovation ecosystem.

Illinois Institute of Technology recently unveiled a new 34,000-square-foot research facility within Fulton Labs, which serves as its life and health sciences campus in Chicago. Designed by Perkins&Will, the facility occupies the entire seventh floor of the 400 N Aberdeen building developed by Trammell Crow Company, positioning the university alongside leading industry partners in a high-performance commercial innovation hub.

High-Performance Lab Planning

The fit-out delivers open, modular lab spaces for both biomedical and chemical sciences, supported by dedicated zones for microscopy, cell culture, and laser work. Perkins&Will’s planning strategy prioritizes flexibility, visibility, and rapid reconfiguration to accommodate evolving scientific instrumentation and interdisciplinary team models.

Image courtesy of Kendall McCaughtery | Hall Merrick McCaughtery
Interior view of Illinois Tech lab from a seating area, showing researchers at glass-walled workstations. The seating area includes a semi-circular modular sofa, modern upholstered metal-frame chair, minimalist metal accent tables, with soft blue, neutral, and gray tones throughout.

Researchers collaborate within Illinois Tech’s flexible glass-walled lab, visible from a nearby seating area designed to support informal discussion and cross-disciplinary interaction.

 

Architectural Identity and Brand Continuity

The interior draws directly from Illinois Tech’s architectural heritage—referencing Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s historic campus and OMA’s McCormick Tribune Campus Center. A large sliding glass entry establishes an immediate visual reveal into the research floor, while steel and chrome hardware reinforce a rigorously engineered aesthetic. The restrained finish palette includes black metal, white oak at key touch points, exposed concrete, chrome details, and frosted glass to balance technical precision with material warmth.

Daylight, Visual Connection, and Controlled Transparency

Floor-to-ceiling interior glazing allows daylight to penetrate deep into lab zones and maintains sightlines across teams, reinforcing the transparency and culture of open science. Electrochromic exterior glass automatically tints in response to shifting sunlight, controlling glare and reducing thermal load.

High-performance acoustic ceiling tiles and integrated felt treatments manage sound in open-plan zones, ensuring acoustic control without compromising visual openness.

Future-Ready Programming

Collaborative support areas and flex rooms are strategically interwoven between lab environments to support both focused experimentation and spontaneous knowledge exchange. These spaces are intentionally designed to shift between research and instruction—enabling faculty, student researchers, and industry partners to engage within the same contiguous, high-performance environment. The result is a future-ready interior that functions equally as a working lab, recruitment asset, and branded academic showcase.

State-of-the-Art Education Design Inspiration

About the Author

Robert Nieminen
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Robert Nieminen

Chief Content Director

Chief Content Director, Architectural Products, BUILDINGS, and interiors+sources

Robert Nieminen is the Chief Content Director of three leading B2B publications serving the commercial architecture and design industries: Architectural Products, BUILDINGS, and interiors+sources. With a career rooted in editorial excellence and a passion for storytelling, Robert oversees a diverse content portfolio that spans award-winning feature articles, strategic podcast programming, and digital media initiatives aimed at empowering design professionals, facility managers, and commercial building stakeholders.

He is the host of the I Hear Design podcast and curates the Smart Buildings Technology Report, bringing thought leadership to the forefront of innovation in built environments. Robert leads editorial and creative direction for multiple industry award programs—including the Elev8 Design Awards and Product Innovation Awards—and is a recognized voice in sustainability, smart technology integration, and forward-thinking design.

Known for his sharp editorial vision and data-informed strategies, Robert focuses on audience growth, engagement, and content monetization, leveraging AI tools and SEO-driven insights to future-proof B2B publishing.

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