THIS BUILDING IS A LIVING LABORATORY

The recently built wooden structure serves as a multidisciplinary research platform, where the effects of sustainability, climate, and well-being related to wooden buildings will be examined over time.

Constructed using cross-laminated timber (CLT), the Living Lab showcases sustainable architecture and is designed to last 150 years. The building is equipped with an automated sensor network that tracks the structural integrity and environmental interactions of the wooden materials, offering real-time data for the analysis and enhancement of building performance over time.

A distinctive feature of the Living Lab is its ten (10) instrumented accommodation rooms, capable of measuring various indoor air quality variables and linking them to human well-being and health, both perceived and measured.

Collaboration and Mutual Learning at Innovation Hubs

Situated at the Hyytiälä Forest Station of the University of Helsinki in south-central Finland, the Living Lab benefits from the station’s long-standing expertise in forest sciences and education, dating back to 1910. Over the years, it has developed into an international hub for high-level, multidisciplinary research in sustainable forestry and climate change.
https://www.helsinki.fi/en/research-stations/hyytiala-forest-station(siirryt toiseen palveluun)

The Hyytiälä Living Lab is part of an international research and measurement network that already includes the George W. Peavy Forest Science Center at the Oregon State University in Corvallis and InnoRenew CoE, the largest timber building in Slovenia managed by the University of Primorska.

The University of Helsinki emphasizes in its recent innovation roadmap that science-based innovations are integral to the societal engagement of universities. The Living Lab serves as an innovation platform for the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry and is connected to the new open innovation ecosystem, Viikki Wood.

The Living Lab platform harmonizes effectively with the New European Bauhaus initiative within the HorizonEurope strategic framework (2025–2027), striving to promote sustainable progressions in construction that enhance societal welfare.

Operating year-round with an open collaboration model, the Living Lab invites researchers, developers, and partners from diverse fields, transforming it into a multidisciplinary platform dedicated to creating science-based solutions in sustainable wood materials, construction, and forestry.

For further information on the Hyytiälä Living Lab, please visit
https://www.helsinki.fi/en/research-stations/hyytiala-forest-station/research/living-lab(siirryt toiseen palveluun)

Keywords:
Innovation, sustainability, wood construction, well-being, climate change

More info:
Ritva Toivonen , Professor and Dean, ritva.toivonen@helsinki.fi
Pasi Puttonen, Research Coordinator, pasi.puttonen@helsinki.fi