The smart living lab combines the skills of the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), the School of engineering and architecture of Fribourg (HEIA-FR) and the University of Fribourg (UNIFR) in the following 6 research domains:
Comfort and perceptions
Comfort and perceptions: building’s influence on users’ comfort and health, especially thermal, visual and acoustic comfort, as well as air quality.
Interactions and behaviors
Interactions and behaviors: understanding the factors that influence users’ behaviors and their social interactions.
Buildings’ and neighborhoods’ adaptability
Buildings’ and neighborhoods’ adaptability: ensuring the capability of the building and of the neighborhood to adapt to the changing needs of users and to environmental fluctuations.
Energy networks and economics
Energy networks and economics: technical management of interactions between the consumption and the production of decentralized (building) and centralized (neighborhood) energy production. New relative economic models, prosumer concept (consumer-producer).
Active systems and controls
Active systems and controls: new technologies in heating, ventilation and lighting integrated to the building. Control and automation methods which account for changing needs and climatic fluctuations.
Integrated design and construction process
Integrated design and construction process: consideration of climatic and environmental issues during design and construction. Consideration of regulatory and legal processes.
