Research building Smart Living Lab
Fribourg, Switzerland
Competition 1st prize 2019
Project and realisation 2019-2024
Smart
Living Lab.
Overview
Client
Smart Living Lab, Fribourg, Switzerland
blueFACTORY Fribourg-Freiburg SA, Switzerland
Architecture
Behnisch Architekten, Stuttgart, Germany
HVAC, building physics
Drees & Sommer Schweiz AG, Basel, Switzerland
Team ZPF
Heike Egli-Erhart, Dimitrios Mamadas, Fabio Pesavento, Roberto Plaza, Nico Ros, Sander van Baalen
The Smart Living Lab, a research centre to address the future of the built environment, will occupy a central location on the former Cardinal brewery site in Fribourg. As part of the new blueFACTORY district, which aims to interconnect players from the worlds of business, innovation, culture and society, the SLL offers space for experimental interdisciplinary research into sustainable construction.
The design by the team comprising Behnisch Architekten, Drees & Sommer and ZPF Ingenieure impressed with its open, flexible, integrative and user-oriented nature, as well as its economical use of material and resources. According to the panel of experts, the winning team stood out because of collective intelligence, receptiveness and enthusiasm, with architects and engineers in close cooperation with each other. The aim of the study contract was to develop a structure that minimises energy consumption, with materials and construction methods carefully selected to optimise impact on its life cycle and to reduce grey energy.
The Smart Living Lab enables 130 researchers, in interdisciplinary teams, to study sustainable construction on a floor space of around 5,000 m² across four storeys. Thus, the building not only houses the institute, but also serves as an experimental object itself. The structure’s compact form optimises the ratio of volume to facade area, while also featuring sophisticated segmentation. The load-bearing structure is a timber framework, based on an efficient grid system. The building’s fixed installations are reduced to an absolute minimum. This allows the building to perform a multitude of functions and adapt to future changes.
The facade plays a key role in the sustainable climate concept. Prefabricated wooden elements are inserted into the structural framework’s grid. Vertically and horizontally arranged slats serve to provide shade and (via integrated photovoltaic elements) generate energy. The conservatories act as a source of solar-preheated air in spring and autumn, thus reducing energy consumption. Heating, cooling and ventilation systems are integrated into an intelligent wooden ceiling structure, with clay panels serving as thermal mass.