The primary mandate for the Chiapas facility is Surveillance and Diagnosis. As with all National biosurveillance facilities, the objective is to anticipate and design for any potential disease, known and unknown. To this end, the infectious diseases that will be studied and monitored are, but not limited to, Avian Influenza, New Castle, Vesicular Stomatatis, East and West Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis, Classical Swine fever and Foot and Mouth disease. Administration includes enclosed offices for Facility Program Director as well as Biosafety, Security and quality control personnel. Shared workstations are available for laboratory heads, scientific staff and technicians. In addition, the plan includes library, staff lounge, washrooms and locker areas. BSL2 and BSL3 laboratories include open lab space as well as enclosed supporting lab functions such as PCR, Isolation Labs, equipment rooms, cold rooms and glass washing.
BSL3Ag areas include animal holding, procedure areas and necropsy. Animal support functions include dedicated animal loading, animal feed storage, gate and equipment storage. Personnel support functions include change entry sequences and documentation work areas.
The design of the facility is informed by the rural, utilitarian context in which it resides, the highly technical nature of its program and the experience of the people who inhabit it. Local materials and construction techniques are employed to create utilitarian, effortless architecture. The facility is characterized by flexible innovative and sustainable design that connects occupants to each other, and where possible, to the surrounding exterior environment, providing a counter-point to the internalized nature of laboratory diagnostic work.