Research institutions have or are planning to build, expand and renovate animal research facilities to keep up with demands of biomedical research caused in part by growth in the use of genetically altered rodents and the upsurge of research in infectious diseases.

Properly designed facilities greatly facilitate effective management and high quality day-to-day animal care that is required to optimally support animal research and testing. There are multiple solutions to address the myriad of factors that influence the design and construction of research animal facilities. There is no "best" design applicable for all facilities and arguably not even a single "best" design for a given facility. For this reason, this is not intended to be a "how to" book. The goal is to cover the basic programmatic requirements of animal research facilities, provide ideas for meeting those requirements while, hopefully, stimulating the creative process in which designers in consultation with those who work in research animal facilities generate even better ideas. That is how progress has been made and will continue to be made.

* Focuses primarily on biomedical research and development facilities

* Facilitates communication between the various disciplines involved in planning and designing animal facilities by providing contemporary information, and stimulating creativity that will help lead to wise decisions and advance the knowledge base for planning, design and constructing research animal facilities