This is IHBI Lab at Umeå University

The Intelligent Human-Buildings Interaction (IHBI) Lab at Umeå University, Sweden, is an interdisciplinary research hub pioneering novel methods to study interactions between humans and the built environment. The lab provides a cutting-edge experimental platform that integrates immersive virtual environments with a state-of-the-art climate chamber, enabling realistic scenarios to be tested under controlled and repeatable conditions.

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Projects

Across research directions.

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Collaborations

International and interdisciplinary.

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Members

Including researchers and PhD students.

Weizhuo Lu

Background: Professor with a focus on sustainable built environment and director of the Intelligent Human-Buildings Interactions lab (IHBI). Through this lab research, my goal is to gain a better understanding of the complex interaction between occupants and buildings and to develop effective strategies that enhance energy efficiency and adaptability to climate change.

Why the lab started: The relationship between occupants and buildings is a complex and diverse interaction that is influenced by a variety of factors such as climate conditions, building characteristics, and the occupants themselves.

Oversimplification or homogenization of this interaction can result in the failure of building energy-saving technologies and reduce the adaptive capacity of occupants to climate change. Therefore, the main focus of my research is to develop occupant-centric energy efficiency and climate adaptation solutions. To achieve this goal, an Intelligent Human-Buildings Interaction Lab (IHBI) has been established. The lab is designed to allow occupants to test alternative building energy retrofitting measures on a clustered built environment. By integrating human-in-the-loop, the open-accessible IHBI Lab provides an original research platform to model how buildings affect occupants and how occupants interact with their built environment while adapting to climate change. The IHBI Lab is a valuable resource for sharing knowledge and facilitating communication, providing an effective platform to engage the public in sustainable transformation.