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AI drafting for laboratories

AI Drafting for Laboratory and Life Science Projects

A lab floor is a planning module repeated down the building, with bench power, data, lab gases, fume hoods, and safety fixtures at every module and an exhaust system that moves far more air than an office floor. Nomic drafts lab bench, fume hood, lab gas, and safety fixture layouts in CAD in your standards from the lab planner's layouts, then checks them against NFPA 45, the eyewash standard, and your engineer's design criteria before review and stamp.

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Last reviewed: November 2026

You send

  • Lab planner bench layouts and the lab equipment list
  • Architectural floor plans and the code plan with control areas
  • Fume hood, biosafety cabinet, and equipment cutsheets
  • Mechanical design criteria for air change rates and hood demand
  • Your CAD standards and title block

Nomic hands back

  • Lab power, data, and lab gas plans as DWG files
  • Fume hood and biosafety cabinet schedules in Excel and on the sheet
  • Eyewash and safety shower layouts with travel paths
  • Exhaust totals by lab with mismatches listed
  • Open questions for the engineer of record
1234567ABCLAB301LAB302OPEN LAB303LAB304LAB305LAB306OPEN LAB307LAB SUPPORT308OPEN LAB309STAIRS2CHWSCHWR2-1/2" CHWS/R UP TO AHU-1FCU-1FCU-2FCU-3FCU-4FCU-5FCU-627'-3"27'-0"27'-3"27'-3"27'-0"27'-3"94'-8"1AMECHANICAL PIPING PLANSCALE: 1/8" = 1'-0"N1234CONSULTING ENGINEERSREVISIONS1ISSUED FOR REVIEWPROJECTWESTFIELD LABSSCALE1/8" = 1'-0"DATE04/16/2026KEY PLANSHEET TITLEMECHANICAL PIPINGPLANSHEET NUMBERM-201

On the sheet

Mechanical Piping Plan, annotated

A hydronic piping plan with supply and return mains, branch runoffs, and valves at each terminal unit.

  1. 1Chilled water supply and return mains
  2. 2Flow arrows on each pipe
  3. 3Fan coil unit served by the branch
  4. 4Isolation valve on the branch

The problem

Every lab module carries six systems

Lab buildings are planned on a module, often 10'-6" or 11'-0" wide, and every module repeats the same stack of services: plug strips or overhead service carriers at the benches, data at each workstation, vacuum, compressed air, and nitrogen at the turrets, a fume hood or two, and a sink. The lab planner's bench layout changes late as researchers weigh in, and each change moves receptacles, gas turrets, and hood exhaust connections on the electrical, plumbing, and mechanical sheets.

The safety items are where review time goes. Emergency eyewash and shower locations have to be reachable within 10 seconds on an unobstructed path, ultra-low temperature freezers and incubators need standby power, and hood counts and air change rates drive the exhaust and makeup air. A hood added to a bench late, without the exhaust updated, is a ventilation problem that can stay hidden until test and balance.

01 / Bench services

Bench power, data, and gases at every module

Send the lab planner's bench layout, the equipment list, and the floor plans. Nomic lays out plug strips, data, and gas turrets at each bench and carries the module down the floor, with dedicated circuits and standby power where the equipment list calls for them.

  • Bench plug strips circuited to the equipment list
  • Vacuum, compressed air, nitrogen, and CO2 outlets per bench
  • Freezers and incubators on standby power where scheduled
02 / Fume hoods and air

Fume hoods and air change rates kept in step

Fume hoods, biosafety cabinets, and air change rates set the exhaust for the floor. Nomic schedules each hood from the lab planner's list, draws the exhaust connection, and totals exhaust against the air change rate and hood demand your mechanical engineer set for each lab.

  • Fume hood and biosafety cabinet schedule by room
  • Exhaust and makeup air totaled per lab
  • Hood additions that change the exhaust flagged
03 / Safety

Checked against NFPA 45 and the eyewash standard

Nomic checks the lab plans against the code and standards you name, including NFPA 45 for laboratory units and ANSI/ISEA Z358.1 for emergency eyewash and showers, and against the control areas on the architectural code plan.

  • Eyewash and shower travel time and path from each hazard
  • Laboratory unit classes and separations from the code plan
  • Gas cylinder locations against the control areas

Checked against

The code and documents behind every sheet

Name the editions the project is designed to and Nomic checks its own drawing against them before handing it back. Your engineer or architect of record makes the final call and stamps the set.

  • NFPA 45
  • ANSI/ISEA Z358.1
  • ANSI/ASSP Z9.5 laboratory ventilation
  • IBC Section 414 and IFC hazardous materials provisions
  • NEC Articles 700, 701, and 702 for emergency and standby power

How it works

From a sentence to a stamped set

  1. Step 1

    Ask for the drawing

    Say what the sheet needs to show and attach the backgrounds, markups, cutsheets, or photos. A sentence is enough to start.

  2. Step 2

    Nomic drafts it in CAD

    Nomic works in CAD on its own computer, on your layers and blocks, following how your firm drew the same thing before. It saves real DWG files to the project.

  3. Step 3

    Nomic checks its own work

    The drawing is checked against the code editions you name and the source documents. Everything Nomic drew is clouded, and open questions are listed.

  4. Step 4

    Your team reviews and stamps

    Your engineers and architects review the clouded changes, make the final call, and issue the set under their own stamp.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Yes. Nomic works in CAD on its own computer and saves DWG files for lab power, data, lab gas, fume hood, and safety fixture plans. It lays out each module from the lab planner's benches and checks the result against NFPA 45 and the eyewash standard before your engineer reviews it.

No. Your mechanical engineer sets the air change rates, hood face velocity, and exhaust strategy. Nomic schedules the hoods, totals exhaust against those criteria, and flags labs where the hoods and the air change rate no longer agree, so the engineer makes the final call.

Attach the revised bench layout and Nomic moves the receptacles, gas turrets, and hood connections on each affected sheet, clouds every change, and lists the labs where a change affects exhaust or standby power.

Nomic measures the path from each hood and hazard to the nearest eyewash and shower and checks it against ANSI/ISEA Z358.1, flagging doors and obstructions on the route. The lab safety officer and your engineer still decide the final locations.

No. Nomic works in CAD on its own computer and saves DWG files you open in AutoCAD or any DWG editor. On labs modeled in Revit, Nomic delivers DWGs and change lists your modelers link into the model.

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