Living Lab HIL – pioneering building research and renovation

Although the HIL building has been adapted to fire safety regulations in recent years, it has reached the end of its life cycle and has not undergone any major renovation since the 1970s. As a result, there is a great need for renovation in terms of building services and fire safety.

At the same time, the striking building envelope is to be “energy-efficiently upgraded” in order to counteract the high energy consumption. The HIL has the highest energy consumption of all ETH buildings, but this is only partly due to its size.

Changing space requirements are taken into account

In addition, the project addresses the central question of what space requirements the Department of Architecture (D-ARCH) and the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering (D-BAUG) located in the building will have in the future: How can and do people want to work, teach, and conduct research in the HIL in the future? The goal is to create so-called “hybrid teaching and learning landscapes” that offer modern spaces that encourage interaction and collaboration. What this means in concrete terms is still to be determined by those involved.

The need for renovation and the changed space requirements clearly called for a core renovation, in which the building would be stripped back to its supporting structure. ETH decided to take a different approach:

• Instead, ETH wants to treat the existing building with greater care and renovate and expand it prudently.
• Both departments are contributing their knowledge and insights from teaching and research to the construction project.

Living Lab HIL initiated

To this end, the “Living Lab HIL” project was launched, initiated by Professor Matthias Kohler from D-ARCH and Hannes Pichler, Director of Real Estate Management at ETH Zurich.

What does this mean?

• The construction project will be developed internally and not by an external contractor, whom the Real Estate Department would otherwise commission for such a project.
• Parts of the building will be transformed into a Living Lab over the next few years, i. e., a so-called real-world laboratory, in which users will be actively involved in the project.

“The HIL is being examined from the inside out with our own planning team and in interdisciplinary collaboration projects,” explains Matthias Kohler. “We are working with professors in teaching and research to develop innovative approaches to transforming the HIL, and testing these with prototypes on the construction site.”

These are discussed with the internal project team and can thus be incorporated into the construction project. The project team consists of representatives from D-ARCH, D-BAUG, and the Real Estate Management, led by Matthias Kohler and Hannes Pichler.

Two further requirements apply to the project:

• The building will be significantly expanded — by adding additional stories along the entire length of the building and by partially adding additional stories to the annex buildings on Stefano Franscini Square.

• In addition, construction should be resource-efficient. ETH Zurich is committed to the circular economy, for example by reusing building components.

Background to point one: D-ARCH is to be consolidated in HIL. The ONA building, which currently houses part of the department, will be vacated for this purpose.

The renovation will take place while the building remains in operation. The newly created space in the extension will serve as temporary space during the renovation.

A more detailed schedule will be available in 2026. ETH Zurich will then provide ongoing information about the construction phases.