Indoor and outdoor testing grounds for innovation - this is perhaps the best way to describe ‘living labs’. And these labs, in which typically people's interactions with technology are observed, are certainly not a new phenomenon at TU/e. Research into the effect of light on people's behavior, for example, has been conducted for years at the Intelligent Lighting Institute, Academic Director Ingrid Heynderickx explains. “The contexts vary enormously. How can you light an environment in an energy-saving way that still enables people to feel safe? How can you ensure that people get enough light early in the morning to set their diurnal rhythm? And this: how can you use lighting to lead people outdoors, quickly and along a certain route, in the event of a calamity?”

Such research is done partly - and usually initially - under controlled conditions, but nevertheless in settings that are as natural as possible - so that the behavior of test subjects is influenced as little as possible by the thought of participating in an experiment. The market hall at MetaForum is a living lab, as is (off campus) the Stratumseind in Eindhoven, where research is done on the effect of light on the social ambiance and thus on the behavior of people enjoying a night out on the town.

This was partly why a working group was set up, says Ross, at a very early stage of preparations for the renovation. Its members represented, among other bodies, the Intelligent Lighting Institute, Real Estate Management, Information Management and Services and the design team RSVP. “A normally functioning building and a living lab cannot be regarded as two separate entities and placed side by side. Meticulous harmonization is called for. That became a lengthy process lasting four-and-a-half years.”

The result is not only a highly acclaimed hypermodern building that scores well in the sustainability rankings, but also “simply a very large lab where research happens”, as Ingrid Heynderickx describes the Atlas Living Lab in a nutshell. “We are uniting different functions in one and the same space.”

Den Ouden: “First of all, a research proposal is discussed. What does this person want to do, for what purpose and for how long? And are all the floors involved, or could only one wing be used? What does this person plan to publish and what not?” Moreover, every research study must have a certain relevance to TU/e and any ‘strain’ that might be put on people in the building must be worth it. Or, as Heynderickx puts it jovially: “We don't want to become an experimental maze”.

Some experiments will be more intrusive than others. “You could, say, look at which light settings people habitually use at their work station; that in itself is information, but has little impact on staff. Alternatively, as part of a study of seasonal affective disorder you might want to track a number of people over several years; that, for example, is not something you can do across the whole of floors 4 and 5.”

Another aspect that was (and still is) given plenty of attention is the policy governing the data collected - with the European privacy law (AVG), the Netherlands Code of Conduct for Research Integrity and the TU/e Code of Scientific Conduct providing the framework. For example, it has been established that everyone who may be involved will be informed in advance of the purpose of the research and exactly which data will be collected. “This applies to all experiments. In the case of, say, an evacuation you can hardly ask everyone's permission individually, but a clear statement will at least be made, along the lines of: ‘An experiment will take place today on this floor; if you don't wish to be involved, you may use the other zones not involved in the experiment,’” says Heynderickx.

Heynderickx is aware that it is particularly important that employees of the support services are properly informed about the data handling. “This type of research is sometimes conducted at the two departments here (Industrial Design and Industrial Engineering & Innovation Sciences, ed.) and our staff are fairly familiar with it. With the TU/e services, we are noticing that we need to invest a little more time and effort in this respect.”

Den Ouden is keen to point out that at the end of the day every research study must seek “to improve the quality of life here”; seek to better understand the various needs of different individuals and to provide a work environment in which people feel comfortable and safe and can perform optimally - combined with finding sustainable solutions to everyday problems. “We aren't going to explore the lower limits and see how far we can go before everyone runs away screaming. But we will ask something like this: can we lower the temperature a little and still create a feeling of warmth by giving the light a different tint?”

Transparency about results

This is one reason, says the researcher, why it is considered important that findings are shared with the people in the building. “We are part of an academic community, so people here tend to be interested in research results of this kind anyway. Communication on this topic must be transparent.” Not that all the raw research data will be dumped on the internet, Heynderickx hastens to add, “but to a certain extent we will most definitely disseminate the results, but without it being possible to trace them back to individual persons.”

As is so often the case, finding a good balance is key, says Den Ouden. “We want as many meaningful innovations as possible to come out of this living lab and in that sense we want to make it easily available to and appealing to researchers wishing to do experiments here - including, for example, final year students or student teams. But this must be approached very carefully.”

No typical lab

The Atlas Living Lab will have the same status as other TU/e laboratories and will be the fifteenth of the university's larger labs, with a detailed descriptions of its objectives and facilities posted on the TU/e website. The cost involved in realizing the lab is a topic on which the initiators admit they find it hard to comment - partly because, in view of the university's aspirations for sustainability, among other things, some of the infrastructure that has been built was already planned. Den Ouden says, “It's not as if you can point out: ‘This is where ordinary lighting stops and where the Atlas Living Lab starts’. It is no typical lab where, say, money has been invested in the purchase of certain machines.”

Ingrid Heynderickx hopes that the first experiment in the Atlas Living Lab will be running before this coming summer. The laboratory will be officially opened on March 21st, at the same time as the festive opening of the renovated building.