Animus Project laboratory

The Abstergo laboratory was a special laboratory built inside Abstergo Industries' facility in Rome, Italy, that was constructed specifically for their Animus Project. The Animus device itself was located in the center of the laboratory, with Warren Vidic's desk located nearby, overlooking the Animus machine.

Besides the Animus chamber, the laboratory incorporated other rooms and devices, such as a conference room, bedroom, bathroom, and Animus terminal. Cryptic messages painted by Subject 16 could also be seen throughout the room, with the use of Eagle Vision.

The landscape outside the laboratory was extremely bright, though the building housing it was clearly located in an urban environment, surrounded by skyscrapers. The laboratory itself could be found on the building's fourth floor.

Abstergo offices
During their escape, Lucy and Desmond exited the laboratory and made their way towards its underground parking lot. Similar to the lab, the rest of the Abstergo building was decorated in a modern-industrial style with overhead pipes and ventilation clearly visible, but minimalist detail elsewhere; in Desmond's words, Abstergo had some "fucked up interior decorators." There were numerous servers and computers found throughout its offices, though several small windows gave a glimpse into the world outside, showing a terraced garden surrounding a large part of the building.

As the two Assassins took an elevator down to another floor, they traversed through a floor of cubicles. These cubicles were each sealed with glass doors, although at the time, nobody was working in them. This may have indicated that employees were evacuated from the area once Abstergo learned that Lucy and Desmond were escaping, and furthermore, the pair only encountered security guards. Inside the rows of cubicles, several Animus machines could be seen, hinting at a large scale project of Abstergo's creation.

Desmond would later return to this laboratory after his father, William Miles, was captured by Abstergo in Egypt, assuming William was being held in the laboratory. Desmond climbed a lift shaft to gain access to the fourth floor, and was ambushed in the Animus chamber by Daniel Cross, who was wielding a handgun, forcing Desmond to take cover behind the Animus. However, when Cross suffered from the bleeding effect and fled, Desmond pursued him out of the room.

Trivia

 * The laboratory itself was located in the Research Wing of the Abstergo facility, as confirmed by one of the guards informing security of Desmond and Lucy's escape.
 * The laboratory was recreated and revisited by Desmond and Clay Kaczmarek in the Black Room of the Animus, as part of the Desmond's Journey and The Lost Archive memory sequences.