Research

Earlier this month, the Norwegian government assigned The Faculty of Architecture and Fine Art at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology to host one out of eight new national Centers for Environment-friendly Energy Research.

Over the next 8 years, starting up on March 2nd 2009, The Research Centre on Zero Emission Buildings (ZEB) are granted an annual budget of 4,5 million euros.

The 40 % industry

The building industry is often referred to as “the 40 % sector” in an environmental context. 40 % of all use of materials and products are related to buildings. And both worldwide and in Europe buildings account for about 40 % of all primary energy use and therefore contribute to significant greenhouse gas emissions.

Reducing the demand for energy may be more cost-efficient than extending the capacity in the energy supply system. A combination of making buildings more energy-efficient and use a larger fraction of renewable energy is therefore a key issue to meet the global challenges related to climate change and resource shortages.

Saving energy more efficient than producing new energy

The main objective of ZEB is to develop competitive products and solutions for existing and new buildings that will lead to market penetration of buildings that have zero emissions of greenhouse gases related to their production, operation and demolition. The Centre will encompass both residential and commercial buildings, as well as public buildings.

- Energy efficiency is better and cheaper than producing new energy; one kWh saved equals at least two kWhs produced energy. So reducing the energy consumption related to both existing and future building stock complements the broad international research on new renewable energy sources, says professor Anne Grete Hestnes, head of the ZEB-center at Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

Strong partnership

ZEB has entered a binding partnership with the Norwegian Research Council, SINTEF, industrial partners and a strong consortium of international partners like MIT, Fraunhofer, Tsinghua University and Chalmers.

Several of the R&D environments in ZEB are in the forefront of international research within their fields. ZEBs combined expertise within material science, building technology, renewable energy, architecture and social sciences represent a real competitive edge.

The industrial partners, including Skanska, Glava and Isola, employ 100.000 people and total an annual turnover worth 25 billion euros.

For further information about The Research Centre on Zero Emission Buildings, contact:

Centre leader, professor architect Anne Grete Hestnes, Department of Architectural Design, History and Technology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.

annegrete.hestnes@ntnu.no, +47 73595037

Factsheet ZEB:

The purpose of the PhD project is to gain knowledge and further understanding of the relationship between the user’s brief and the design of physical environment for interactions in the knowledge workplace.

The project aims to contribute the knowledge and understanding of how architects and interior designers interpret user needs into the design of knowledge workplaces. The investigations will be limited to the briefing and design stages. Furthermore, the investigations will be limited to focus on how informal meetings and interaction settings are transformed and implemented into design.

The main focus is on how instruments as ‘boundary objects’ can be used as a means of translation and may help the process to go easier. These ‘boundary objects’ are defined as half-worked created objects, artefacts and analytical concepts which facilitate the flow of resources, and which maintain a common identity across borders during the transformation phase.

Research questions

How can the transformation from the clients demand for spaces for interaction into the architectural design be managed and improved to ensure a successful result?

• What kind of different ‘boundary objects’ can be identified during the architect’s process of implementation, interpretation and translation from the project initiation and the statement of users’ needs, and further to the final design?

• How are the architects’ processes within the architect team and in team with other actors such as the client and interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary teams?

• What kind of different ‘boundary objects’ can be identified to ensure success in the transformation from demand to design, and why?

Keywords: knowledge production, spaces for interaction, workplace design, translation, boundary objects

To be completed in February 2008.

Advisors: Siri Hunnes Blakstad (architecture/ knowledge workplace), Reidar Gjersvik (organisation/ strategy/ knowledge production), Thomas Berker (sociology), Tore I.Haugen (facility management/ real estate)

Kari Hovin Kjølle is a researcher and a PhD candidate at the interdisciplinary KUNNE workplace (Knowledge Workplace) project at SINTEF Building and Infrastructure, Department of Buildings in Trondheim. She holds a M. Arch. from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Previous appointments include ten years as partner and managing director at Pir II Architect Office in Trondheim.

The aim of this research is to gain more knowledge about the relation between the architectural design process and information and communication technologies (ICT). Special attention is hereby paid to the architects work and interactions within the design team, and the interdisciplinary use of digital design tools.

A multi-level and descriptive framework developed for exploring and analysing the

ICT impact on processes and relations, is applied to four qualitative case-studies of European building projects implementing and interdisciplinary using BIM/3D object modelling within the design team (one main case-study, three reference studies).

The research is based on three journal articles and several conference papers.


Keywords: ICT impact, architectural design process, design team, multi-level, stories


To be completed in March 2008.


Advisors: Tore I. Haugen, Birgit Sudbø and Bjørn Otto Braaten

For more information see CV_anitamoum

Children experience space mainly through their senses and motor activity, when learning about their environment through exploration. They have an interactive relationship with their surrounding, and their body is in direct contact with the environment. Children’s experiences describe their ways of being in the world, which includes their acting, sensing, feeling and thinking. Their preferences depend not only on the physical environment, but also on the ongoing activities, the social network, and personal aspects. According to different studies, children like complex and diverse environments, which are open for changes and a variation of activities, stimulate their senses, and bring them in contact with the living world. Through learning more about children’s experience of architectural space, an additional tool for designing a qualitative environment, which provides children’s well being, might be gained.



Research questions

How do pre-school children experience and use the different places in their day-care centers, what do they like and dislike and what preferences do they have?

Keywords: children, day-care center,

To be completed in June 2008.

Advisor: Birgit Cold

For more information see CV- Christiane Johannsen

When the basic aim of institutionally provided student housing is to offer students an affordable roof over their heads, how much emphasis should there be on the architectural design of student housing beyond this basic aim?

The intention of this PhD project is to better understand which aspects influence students’ housing satisfaction, and which role architectural design can play in this context. Housing satisfaction is viewed as an important part of the experienced quality of life as a student.

Case study methodology was considered as an appropriate method to illuminate the students’ perception of selected housing projects in Norway. Qualitative interviews with inhabitants of the three case study projects were conducted. The selected case study projects represent recent, apparently innovative student housing projects. Also a quantitative survey was conducted asking students at the different campuses in the city of Trondheim about their housing preferences.

To be completed march 2008

Advisors: Svein Erik Svendsen, Eli Støa

For more information about the project please see Judith Thomson