This is HSB Living Lab

HSB Living Lab is located on Chalmer’s Campus Johanneberg in Gothenburg. The building is constructed of modules and only has temporary planning permission. So after ten years, the building will be dismantled and moved elsewhere. Modular building on temporary planning permission is an integral part of the project and the research. We want to study techniques and processes in order to see if it is possible to find a business model for portable housing that can be replicated. There are many places in Sweden with a housing shortage, but also with vacant land which might be scheduled for housing development but only in a distant future. It may be interesting and pertinent to test this model there.

Development and innovation are incorporated into the building from its foundations
Research and development at HSB Living Lab take place in a real environment with unique opportunities to measure and extract data from the 2,000 or so sensors in the building. Because HSB Living Lab is the real deal. Researchers and students live here permanently, and research is in progress around the clock.

All the parts and panels in the building are interchangeable – everything to make the building as accessible as possible for research. The architecture shows that the building is constantly changing – modules and installations are clearly visible, facades can be replaced by solar panels and the building can rapidly change shape.

Modules and display windows
The building’s pipes, cables and sensors are clearly visible through glass covers, display windows and similar. This is in order to make the normally invisible visible. To remind everyone that research is in progress here around the clock. And to spark thoughts and ideas about the inner workings of a building and potential improvements.

The building consists of 44 modules that have been built in the Swedish Modules factory on the Västgöta Plains. The company is a highly experienced supplier of e.g. clean rooms for laboratories and data centres. Experience that has been very useful in light of all the installations and measuring equipment that HSB Living Lab needs.

In addition to a fast process – the building could be erected in just ten working days – the modular construction also offers great flexibility for the research. It is easy to rebuild and replace parts in HSB Living Lab. These parts include 12 interchangeable wall panels, where the entire wall can be lifted out and replaced by a new. This makes it easy to study different facade materials, wall systems and insulation.