Conference "Sustainable Built Environment 2016" in Zurich
The international conference "Sustainable Built Environment 2016" took place in Zurich from June 13 to June 17, under the title «Expanding Boundaries : Systems Thinking in the Built Environment». On this occasion, the Laboratory of Architecture and Sustainable Technologies (LAST) presented the intermediary results of the ACTIVE INTERFACES research project, which aims at developing new strategies for the implementation of building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) into urban renewal processes. This event provided an interesting exchange platform to promote efforts to apprehend the built environment as a system.
Consuming over 40% of total primary energy, the built environment is in the center of worldwide strategies and measures towards a more sustainable future. To provide resilient solutions, a simple optimization of individual technologies will not be sufficient. In contrast, whole-system thinking reveals and exploits connections between parts. Each system interacts with others on different scales (materials, components, buildings, cities) and domains (ecology, economy and social). Whole-system designers optimize the performance of such systems by understanding interconnections and identifying synergies. The more complete the design integration, the better the result.
Based on the ongoing research of the four-year long ACTIVE INTERFACES project, the LAST notably presented a paper written by Sergi Aguacil, Sophie Lufkin and Emmanuel Rey entitled "Towards integrated design strategies for implementing BIPV systems into renewal processes : First case study in Neuchâtel, Switzerland".
The eponymous poster presented by the same authors also received the "Best Poster Award" of the conference.
NRP 70 “Energy Turnaround" homepage
Laboratory of architecture and sustainable technologies (LAST) homepage