News

New paper presents method to scale up insights on building operation

Published:29.10.25 — Our new paper in Energy and Buildings, led by ETHOS PhD student Yufei Zhang, intrdoduces a new framework for inferring building operation characteristics from widely available smart meter data. The framework, OccuEMBED, simulateously infers occupancy levels and analyzes system-level load information for improved flexibility and operation at the urban scale.

ETHOS Lab hosts International Energy Agency expert meeting

Published:08.09.25 — ETHOS hosted the 3rd experts' meeting of the International Energy Agency's Human Centric Buildings Network at the EPFL Lausanne campus on September 1-2. 

New paper on contextual drivers of building occupant behavior

Published:28.03.25 — Our new paper in Building and Environment, led by ETHOS visiting PhD student Tarun Verma, leverages supervised machine learning to better understand and predict human interaction with window blinds — a key factor influencing building energy consumption and occupant comfort, especially in developing countries. 

ETHOS presents new research at BuildSys conference

Published:21.11.24 — ETHOS presented two papers on occupant-centric energy and comfort modeling at the 2024 BuildSys conference, held in Hangzhou, China.

New paper on statistical data analysis in human-centric research

Published:22.08.24 — Our latest paper in Building and Environment, led by ETHOS postdoctoral scholar Matteo Favero, tackles ten essential questions about statistical data analysis in human-centric research, focusing on thermal comfort. 

ETHOS presents two papers at i3CE 2024

Published:31.07.24 — ETHOS presented two papers at the ASCE International Conference on Computing in Civil Engineering (i3CE), hosted by Carnegie Mellon University. 

Best paper at Buildsys '23

Published:21.11.23 — The best paper at Buildsys 2023 in Istanbul, Turkey was awarded to ETHOS's collaborative work with the Intelligent and Connected Systems Lab at Columbia University and the Intelligent Mobile and Embedded Computing Lab at Northwestern University.

Paper presented at Buildsys '23

Published:20.11.23 — Our paper, "OccuVAE: Integrating unsupervised occupancy inference in data-driven energy modeling for human-centric operation" was presented at the Cyber-Physical-Social Infrastructure Systems workshop at Buildsys '23. Congrats to Yufei who led this work!

New paper on walkability in cities

Published:13.09.23 — Our new paper, "Rethinking walkability: Exploring the relationship between urban form and neighborhood social cohesion," published in Sustainable Cities and Society, sheds light on the link between the form of the city and our social experiences.

Why flexible working has the power to change our cities

Published:06.06.23 — In this column, published in three local dailies, Andrew Sonta, engineer and Tenure track assistant professor at the Smart Living Lab explains how evolving patterns of behavior have called into question the value of the physical office space and add an additional layer of complexity to optimal building design and operation.

New book on occupant-centric building design

Published:15.05.23 — ETHOS contributes to new open-access book on occupant-centric simulation-aided building design.

Interview with Andrew Sonta, Head of the new Ethos Lab

Published:29.03.23 — Andrew Sonta joined the EPFL School for Architecture, Civil, and Environmental Engineering (ENAC) as a Tenure Track Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering in September 2022. He leads the new Civil Engineering and Technology for Human Oriented Sustainability Lab (ETHOS) at the Smart Living Lab in Fribourg. In the following interview, he tells us more about his academic career and research schemes.

ETHOS welcomes PhD student Yufei Zhang

Published:02.03.23 — Yufei Zhang joined ETHOS in February 2023 as a doctoral assistant. He received his MSc degree from the Integrated Building System Programme at ETH Zurich and his BSc from Tongji University, China.

ETHOS welcomes PhD student Kanaha Shoji

Published:02.03.23 — Kanaha Shoji, a new PhD student, joined ETHOS in February 2023.

ETHOS welcomes postdoctoral scientist Matteo Favero

Published:16.02.23 — Matteo Favero joined ETHOS in February 2023 as a postdoctoral research scientist. He received his PhD degree from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Norway and his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Politecnico di Milano (PoliMi), Italy.

New paper / data release published in Nature Scientific Data

Published:24.10.22 — ETHOS director contributes to open global database on occupant behavior.

Appointment of EPFL professors

Published:23.09.21 — The Board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology has announced the appointment of professors at EPFL.