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TU Graz highlights new features in the Smart City project "STELA". Instead of relying on high tech for the thermal refurbishment of existing multi-storey buildings, social compatibility returns to the centre stage of the project. Anna has now got more room. A wheelchair user, she lives on the ground floor of an 11-storey house in Leoben.

Research news Active components on buildings such as blinds whose design was copied from naturally occurring solutions - that is the subject of the research conducted by a team from the Technical University of Munich (TUM), the University of Freiburg, and the University of Stuttgart. The aim is to equip them with drive elements that can move without any electrical energy input.

About one billion birds are killed every year when they unwittingly fly into human-made objects such as buildings with reflective windows. Such collisions are the largest unintended human cause of bird deaths worldwide - and they are a serious concern for conservationists. A new paper published in June in the journal Biological Conservation finds that, as one might suspect, smaller buildings cause fewer bird deaths than do bigger buildings.

Want to boost collaboration among researchers' Even in an age of easy virtual communication, physical proximity increases collaborative activity among academic scholars, according to a new study examining a decade's worth of MIT-based papers and patents. In particular, the study finds that cross-disciplinary and interdepartmental collaboration is fueled by basic face-to-face interaction within shared spaces.

Office and residential buildings use more energy per square metre, the taller they are, according to new research from UCL. Researchers at UCL's Energy Institute have found that electricity use, per square metre of floor area, is nearly two and a half times greater in high-rise office buildings of 20 or more storeys than in low-rise buildings of 6 storeys or less.

EPFL, in association with the School of Engineering and Architecture of Fribourg, the Geneva School of Art and Design and the University of Fribourg, is taking part in the 2017 international Solar Decathlon competition.

Research news Architecture clearly reflects societal developments. Prof. Stephan Trüby explains in an interview how financial markets influence the shape of bank buildings and what the impact of digitalization on individual architectural elements is. As a professor for Architectural and Cultural Theory, can you tell us about the relationship between these two fields? Stephan Trüby: Architecture is probably the most complex cultural technology that humankind has produced.

Using a satnav to get to your destination 'switches off' parts of the brain that would otherwise be used to simulate different routes, reveals new UCL research. The study, published and funded by Wellcome, involved 24 volunteers navigating a simulation of Soho in central London while undergoing brain scans.

Research news How can we improve the sustainability of our cities in the future? Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have developed a new methodology for determining the overall emissions of cities. In a case study analysis, they examined three house types in the Munich metropolitan region.

Many programs encourage owners of homes and other buildings to improve their energy efficiency, sometimes offering substantial subsidies or tax incentives for doing so. Now, planners may have a way to determine where such programs can get the most return for that investment: New research shows how to identify the buildings where retrofitting for energy efficiency will have the biggest impact on a city's overall greenhouse gas emissions.

New opportunities to fight climate change in these properties are coming from an unlikely source: the commercial property lease. A new study finds that in 2009, only 15% of all leases signed in Sydney's central business district contained green clauses; by 2013, this had risen to over 60%. Traditionally, leases ignore environmental considerations, partly due to conflicting landlord and tenant goals.

The University of Nottingham has developed a novel and easy-to-use test for measuring the airtightness of buildings in order to help eliminate draughts, improve energy efficiency and reduce heating bills. The testing of airtightness is needed to help establish and minimise the infiltration rate of cold air into buildings and the loss of heated air out through gaps, holes and cracks in the building fabric.

AUSTIN, Texas -  Researchers in the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin are one step closer to delivering smart windows with a new level of energy efficiency, engineering materials that allow windows to reveal light without transferring heat and, conversely, to block light while allowing heat transmission, as described in two new research papers.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. A research team led by Kevin Houser, professor of architectural engineering, has determined that color and whiteness rendition has a profound effect on LED light source preference. The team's findings were published in Lighting Research & Technology in an article titled "Perceptual responses to LED illumination with colour rendering indices of 85 and 97" at: http://lrt.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/08/22/1477153514548089 .

Think working in an environmentally green building leads to greater satisfaction in the workplace?  Think again. People working in buildings certified under LEED's green building standard appear no more satisfied with the quality of their indoor workplace environments than those toiling in conventional buildings, according to new research from the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom.

o University research could shape Government housing policy o Study reveals inflexible parking on new estates leads to tension between neighbours o Research recommends wider streets with room for on-street parking Government policy on how future new housing estates should be designed could be shaped by leading research from the University of Sheffield.

When is a phone not a phone? When it's serving as an occupancy sensor for energy-saving purposes. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) researcher Bruce Nordman had an idea several years ago to take advantage of existing devices in office buildings by using them for energy efficiency purposes.

17 September 2013 Most people are dissatisfied with having to work in an open plan office, University of Sydney research has found. PhD candidate Jungsoo Kim and Professor Richard de Dear from the Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning found many feel open plan offices are disruptive to productivity.

A team of researchers, led by Colorado State University engineering professor John van de Lindt, has spent the last month shaking a four-story building on the world's largest outdoor shake table at the University of California, San Diego, to learn how to make structures with first-floor garages better withstand seismic shocks.