AIL Research
Ensuring access to spaces while promoting comfort and human well-being are essential qualities that our buildings must possess today. The objective of the laboratory of Architecture and Intelligent Living is to create empowering, enjoyable and healthy environments, while integrating a low-impact approach towards the climate. In line with these objectives, AIL's research themes and research questions are grouped as follows:
Rooted in indoor environmental quality (IEQ) research, our ambition is to explore the boundaries of comfort and advance our understanding of what makes spaces healthy, pleasant and restorative. To achieve this, we draw on an interdisciplinary approach including architecture, physics, biology and life sciences. Our aim is to improve environmental quality, energy efficiency, comfort, health and occupant satisfaction. Our current research projects in this theme include:
- Interaction effects across IEQ domains
- Biophilic environments and stress reduction
- View out and occupant satisfaction
- Impact of spectral characteristics of light
This theme intersect with the principles of universal and barrier-free design, their implementation, user perception (sensory, psycho-, physiological), and the societal issues raised by access matters. Our aim is to understand what spatial arrangements and adaptations can enable access to everyday places, so that everyone can participate in society confidently and independently. Our current research projects in this theme include:
- Access barriers and the role of the built environment
- Spatial legibility for visually impaired people
- Accessibility mapping: what, for whom and how?
- Use of assistive technologies by disabled people in relation to space
We are part of the Real-World Lab “Accessibility”, a cross-disciplinary and participatory research effort that is concerned with the design, development and evaluation of novel technologies and spatial configurations that can be leveraged by disabled people. Within the real-world lab, our aim is to understand how spaces can be designed and communicated so as to facilitate equitable participation in society, that contributes to individual safety and comfort in spaces, and that facilitates access to enriching and engaging experiences.