The smart living lab is guest of honor at energissima

Zero carbon stand

Guest of honor at energissima, the smart living lab will occupy a privileged position at the heart of the exhibition, which will be held from 12 to 15 April 2018 in Bulle. Its stand will showcase research areas related to sustainable architecture: well-being and behaviors, construction technologies, energy systems, interaction and project processes. Occupying almost 50m2, its exhibition space is a subtle reference to the concept of circular economy and provides an example of a “zero carbon” construction. Aiming to reduce its CO2 footprint, the smart living lab has thus designed the structure of its stand to use leftover wooden boards from those used for the construction of the NeighborHub, the solar house that won the Solar Decathlon 2017 in Denver, USA. The stand’s lighting consists entirely of low energy LEDs. Furthermore, the transport of the materials and the journeys of staff will be optimized to ensure a minimal carbon footprint.

Interactively showcasing research projects

Researchers from the smart living lab, which brings together the competences of the Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), the School of Engineering and Architecture of Fribourg (HEIA-FR) and the University of Fribourg (UNIFR) have gone to extra lengths to showcase their work in an interactive form, thanks to interdisciplinary research project demonstration devices. Among the six proposed exhibits, visitors will discover the board game “Reste SEN!”, in which each player becomes a project manager who must hire the most capable professionals when confronted with the various difficulties that occur throughout a construction project, or the display entitled “Build – Unbuild – Repeat”, which allows the visitor to disassemble and reassemble a construction system according to all possible spatial configurations, or the “CROWD ENERGY” model, which visualizes the production, the storage as well as the energy transfer within a neighborhood. The research groups of the smart living lab will be on hand to guide the public through their discovery of these flagship projects. For those expressing further interest, technical factsheets will also be available for delving deeper into center’s research focuses, related to energy efficiency and digitalization.

Hear from the NeighborHub’s designers

Recently reassembled on the site of the blueFACTORY and open to the public on 28-29 April 2018, the solar house NeighborHub will seize the opportunity offered by energissima to the smart living lab by establishing exchanges between its designers and the public. Marilyne Andersen, professor and faculty dean at the EPFL, and president of the scientific commission of the smart living lab, will speak on 12 April at 5:00PM, as part of the official inauguration of the exhibition. On the afternoon of Sunday 15 April, discover the success story behind the NeighborHub during the public conference entitled «Le NeighborHub: la maison solaire suisse gagnante du US Solar Decathlon 2017» (“The NeighborHub: the Swiss solar house, winner of the US solar Decathlon 2017”), during which the audience will hear from Anne-Claude Cosandey, operational director of EPFL Fribourg/smart living lab and Axelle Marchon, student manager in architecture, in charge of the project’s promotion.