SAS Sustainable Laboratory Design & Circular Infrastructure, FHNW School of Life Sciences

After completing the SAS, you will be able to:

• Translate Circular Concepts: Understand how Circular Economy principles are translated into structural laboratory design and infrastructure concepts.
• Develop Modular Environments: Design technical approaches for flexible laboratory morphologies using mobile furniture systems and standardized utility interfaces to minimize reconfiguration downtime.
• Evaluate Resource Efficiency: Analyse the operational viability of energy-efficient systems, advanced wastewater treatment, and thermal upcycling solutions to improve laboratory performance.
• Deploy Digital Lifecycle Tools: Apply digital frameworks like Building Information Modelling (BIM), digital twins, and material passports to track facility circularity and optimize energy consumption.
• Bridge Stakeholder & Regulatory Demands: Act as a technically proficient interface between laboratory users, architects, and building services engineers to balance sustainability objectives with compliance, safety, and operational requirements.

This programme is designed for those driving sustainability and circular transformation in life science laboratory environments.

• Lab Operations & Management: You manage laboratory operations or operational excellence and want to systematically improve resource efficiency, sustainability, and performance.
• Sustainability & Procurement Experts: You work in Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG), sustainability, or procurement, and are looking for actionable, data-backed strategies to implement circular solutions in practice.
• Planners & Facility Managers: You are involved in the planning, engineering, operation, or modernization of laboratories and want to align sustainability with compliance and business objectives.
• Life Science Sector: You operate within the pharmaceutical, biotech, medtech, healthcare, or research sector and want to actively lead the transition towards more sustainable laboratory systems.
• Industry Providers & Consultants: You support laboratories as a consultant, specialized planner, manufacturer, or service provider and want to develop circular products, services, and innovative business models.

This intensive 6-day SAS-program translates architectural engineering into practical infrastructure solutions. It forms the second module of the CAS Circular Economy for Laboratories and includes an excursion.

This module focuses on the physical transformation of laboratory environments. You will learn how to translate Circular Economy principles into technical reality, from building architecture and smart engineering layout strategies to resilient infrastructure design. The focus is on modular, energy-efficient, and digitally enabled lab environments that combine sustainability, compliance, and operational performance.

• Circular Design Philosophies: Master Shell-to-Core approaches and Design-for-Disassembly (DfD) frameworks for lab infrastructure design.
• Closed-Loop MEP Systems: Optimize building services engineering for sustainable energy and water treatment and optimized process water neutralizing.
• Energy Systems: Implement low-carbon energy solutions.
• Thermal Upcycling & Heat Recovery: capture and reuse high-temperature waste heat from specialized lab infrastructure and high-performance computing (HPC) clusters.
• Digital Operations & Assets: Utilize Building Information Modelling (BIM), digital twins, and material passports to track facility circularity over its entire life cycle.
• Technical Site Excursion: connect theory with practical application through integrated site visits at leading life-science innovation hubs.

At the end of the module, a multiple-choice questionnaire (pass/fail) is available, if you would like to receive ECTS credits. The module can be allocated to the CAS Circular Economy for Laboratories within three years. If you have successfully completed all SAS of this CAS programme and wish to receive the Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS), please contact us for the final assignments. ​

The following programme admission requirements apply:

• Tertiary A: Higher education qualification (at least a Bachelor’s degree) and at least 2 years’ practical experience relevant to the programme,
• Tertiary B: Colleges of Higher Education Diploma (HF), Advanced Federal Diploma of Higher Education (HFP) or Federal Diploma Higher Education (BP), and at least 5 years’ practical experience relevant to the programme,
• Individuals without a Tertiary A or B qualification may be admitted if they cumulatively meet the following admission criteria:
• at least 10 years’ professional experience in a field relevant to the programme, of which at least 5 years in a managerial or senior specialist role
• additional qualifications (various non-formal, extensive further training courses or partial completion (>50%) of a tertiary qualification)
• evidence of knowledge of academic work or a willingness to acquire this in advance.