Breaking ground for the HSB Living Lab research arena
Construction is now starting on HSB Living Lab, the research arena for housing of the future. For ten years this mobile and flexible building will function as a living laboratory for technical and architectural innovations. Architects from Tengbom have designed the building and are partners in the research work together with HSB, Chalmers University of Technology and Rice University.
Work on the HSB Living Lab research arena will start on 11 September at the Swedish Modules factory. Forty-four flexible modules will be produced for subsequent assembly on Chalmers’ campus in Gothenburg, Sweden. The residents and researchers who will provide the foundation for research into housing of the future will move in during the first half of 2016. Tengbom is the architectural firm responsible for HSB Living Lab, from programme start until 2025.
“Designing the physical platform for our long-term research work has been a fantastic challenge. The building will house and inspire the search for innovative architectural solutions which means that the need for flexibility, development and evaluation have been the central to its design,” says Peter Elfstrand, senior architect at Tengbom.
HSB Living Lab has been shaped by the needs of research in both its interior and exterior design. The module principle and facades with exchangeable materials are two examples of how the building has been designed to develop over time. The research will include everything from innovative technology, sustainable solutions, materials, functions and methods to social contexts and interaction between residents.
“Breaking ground for a major building project always gives a special feeling. Even though in this case the first module of what will become HSB Living Lab is starting in the factory. This also characterises the entire HSB Living Lab: this is far from being a typical building project. The aim of this living laboratory is to invert the concept of how we can reside and live sustainably in our everyday lives,” says Emma Sarin, project manager HSB Living Lab.
For further information, please contact:
Emelie Mannheimer, Marketing and Communications Director, Tengbom
emelie.mannheimer@tengbom.se
+46 707 15 63 90
For press photographs:
http://news.cision.com/tengbom
Tengbom is one of the leading architectural firms in the Nordic region. The company stands for forward-looking and living architecture with buildings and milieus that people want to visit and in which they want to live and work. Tengbom has some 550 employees at twelve offices in Sweden and Finland. Tengbom was founded in 1906 by Ivar Tengbom, a prominent figure in Swedish architecture. Learn more at www.tengbom.se.
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