New buildings should be designed following concepts that will make them robust against expected climatic changes during their lifetime, the next 50 to 100 years. African countries are facing an acute housing shortage, with the continent’s population projected to double by 2050, and the fastest urbanization rate in the world.
Finished Projects
ABC21 - Africa-Europe bioclimatic collaboration for the 21st century
Natural ventilation laboratory
Laboratory for the study of natural ventilation solutions in indoor environments. The dimensions of the test chamber are 6 x 6.5m with a height of 3.3m. The chamber allows the investigation of passive indoor cooling solutions in office buildings. It is also being used for testing low pressure particle filters.
SMART2B - Smartness to existing buildings
The cloud-based platform will facilitate smartness upgrades of existing buildings, enabling their transition from passive buildings to active elements of the energy system by offering new energy and non-energy services such as increased energy efficiency, improved indoor comfort to the occupants and flexibility to various stakeholders including DSOs, building managers and other third-parties.
Solar Chimney - Test laboratory for low-cost housing thermal insulation systems
Low-cost, self-built housing continues to be a resource solution for the poor in many parts of the world. This type of building does not guarantee adequate indoor comfort conditions and is particularly vulnerable to climate change and consequent heat waves.
SATO - Self assessment towards optimization of building energy
Existing measurements of equipment and building energy use paint a bleak image: real-life energy consumption often exceeds design predictions by more than 100%. As a result, reducing the gap between designed and measured energy use has become central in current efforts to increase energy efficiency.