Lab 1

Lab 1 was the first lab building designed and built for OIST and set the standard for the lab buildings that followed. Lessons learned from the operation of Lab 1 provided valuable insight for later construction.

Lab 1 houses faculty offices, wet and dry labs, research facilities for more than 20 research units, and other major resources such as the Electron Microscope Suite, the DNA Sequencing Center, and the Supercomputing Center.

In 2010 OIST received a Good Lighting Award for excellent illumination facilities in Lab 1. About 90% of all lights are LEDs which use about 25% less energy than conventional light bulbs.

Lab 2

Lab 2 is connected to Center Building through the Skywalk, a suspended bridge that traverses the valley between the two buildings, offering magnificent views of the campus and the sea. In addition to dry and wet labs for about 20 research units, Lab 2 also includes laser labs and clean rooms. Lab 2 is directly attached to Lab 3 which in turn is connected to Lab 1 and Center Court through open or enclosed skywalk bridges.

For innovative design and construction, Lab 2 was awarded LEED SILVER status, a green building certification under the internationally recognized standard Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED).

Lab 3

Lab 4

The architect Nikken Sekkei designed Lab 4 with a continuation of similar design principles of the first three lab buildings. Lab 4 is the largest lab building at OIST and is located on the highest level of the northeastern region of the campus. The senior administrative offices, President, Vice President, Provost, etc., into this building. In addition to 20 wet and dry research labs and offices for principal investigators, Lab 4 includes an informal cafeteria and a Children’s Research Center which is a lab dedicated to research on understanding of ADHD in children.

Lab 5

OIST Lab 5 was designed by Kume Sekkei and complements and continued the spirit of the previous four Lab building designs by Nikken Sekkei. Located adjacent to Labs 1 and 4, Lab 5 will contain three major elements: 7-Dry Labs; 13-Wet Labs; and an animal vivarium. It is projected to open in Spring 2023.

Marine Science Station

The location of OIST, an island surrounded by the sea, makes it an ideal institute for marine science research. With the increase of marine science units on the main campus, a decision was made to build a lab building exclusively for this field of research — the OIST Marine Science Station. A seafront site was provided by Onna Village in Seragaki, approximately 8km northeast of the main campus, and construction of the building was completed in 2016. The Marine Science Station includes both indoor and outdoor tanks that receive filtered and unfiltered seawater directly from the sea through underwater pipes pumped to seawater tanks on the roof top. The darker structure in the middle in photo below is a wall of seawater tanks.

Go to the Marine Science Station web page.

The Innovation Square Incubator

The incubator is a mixed-use facility that accommodates wet lab, dry lab, and computational research and development activities. It is open to startup companies as well as established companies that wish to collaborate with OIST. The 500m2 pre-fab facility is located in the R&D Zone of the OIST Main Campus. The facility accommodates up to 30 people in a mixed-use office and lab setting.

More information about the incubator can be found here