The purpose of this thesis is to establish a growth/change principle and demonstrate its application for space science laboratory facilities. Laboratories by nature need to be flexible. They need the capability to grow and change as experimental requirements dictate. To achieve this capability, a system based on a growth principle is needed. The method of achieving this objective was: To determine a growth principle by exploring general methods of growth. To determine the functional areas of the laboratory environment by analyzing existing laboratories in various fields of research and by inventory of the specific resources of the Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston. To determine the proportions of the functional areas to each other. This required the use of a computer and the development of a computer program capable of determining these proportions. To determine the limits of variation for each proportional relationship by analysis of the proportions provided by the computer. Finally, to test this growth principle and its determinants by applying them in a demonstration of a design for a space science laboratory system.