The NeighborHub is back!
© 2017 Swiss Living Challenge
After its success at the international Solar Decathlon 2017 competition in Denver, USA, the NeighborHub is coming back to life at the smart living lab in Fribourg. The Swiss solar house, designed by the students and professors of four schools (EPFL, HEIA-FR, HEAD and UNIFR), is being rebuilt on the blueFACTORY site. The NeighborHub offers alternatives that brings citizens together to encourage them to go towards a more sustainable future. It will open its doors to the public on 28 and 29 April 2018 and thematic visits will follow.
For more than 2 years, 250 students, including 43 solar decathletes present in Denver, 150 supervisors from the professional and academic sectors and nearly 50 partners will have participated in the Swiss Living Challenge project. They designed the solar house NeighborHub, winner of the international sustainable housing competition Solar Decathlon 2017, with 8 podiums out of 10 competitions, including 6 gold medals.
Now, the 70 tons of equipment needed for the reconstruction of the NeighborHub are back in Fribourg, after crossing the Atlantic in twelve containers. The building phase began in mid-February and is led by some of the supervisors and students who were in Denver. It will run for two months.
Ideally located in the innovation district of blueFACTORY, close to the smart living lab that gave birth to it, the solar community house will be a meeting place that brings the local residents together and imagine with them solutions to consume less and better. There will be tools and alternatives around seven levers of action: the use of renewable energies, mobility, water and waste management, food, biodiversity and the choice of materials. Visitors will benefit from advice, interactive activities and conferences on these themes, at the open doors scheduled on 28 and 29 April 2018, and on request.