(not offered in summer 2023)
Swiss-Korean Academic Exchange Programme for master students of EPFL, HEIA-FR and UNIFR: Study of the synergy of architectural design, human factors, and technologies in the office buildings and their combined effect on the indoor environmental quality and human-building interaction in the context of the local culture and architecture in the post pandemic era.
The strong traditions, use of advanced technologies and direction towards a sustainable society, that Switzerland and South Korea share, pave the way to the international cooperation ARC-HEST between two countries to raise awareness about urbanism and related social issues and facilitate solutions inspired by different cultures and policies. Through the collaborative work of Swiss and Korean academicians and students from different disciplines, the program aims to comprehensively study the working environment in each country in conjunction with the local culture and architecture
This second edition of the ARC-HEST joint pedagogical program in the framework of two-week long Exchange Schools, a Summer School 2022 in Switzerland, and Winter School 2023 in South Korea, will consist of lectures, workshops, and studios. The essential part of each Exchange School is the visit of 3 case study buildings by students and the analysis of the current state of the building design, operation, indoor comfort, occupant’s satisfaction, and behavior by different student groups. The main task of the student groups is to design a building assessment method, and to collect, process, and evaluate data from the existing buildings. Based on the findings, the groups will need to develop innovative solutions for the improvement of the built indoor environment, the satisfaction of the occupants with the building, and human-building interaction in the context of the diversity of occupants and architectural design across Switzerland and South Korea.
Behavior of buildings and indoor environmental quality are generally different for heating (winter) and cooling (summer) seasons. For these reasons, the topic of Summer comfort will be investigated in Switzerland during the Summer Exchange School from 22 August to 1st September 2022 and the topic of Winter comfort will be studied in South Korea during the Winter Exchange School from 6 to17 February 2023 (tbc).
Each Exchange School will involve a total of selected 30 students equally shared between 2 countries; the students must be committed to participating in both Exchange Schools and have good communication and written English. Each country coordinates the selection of students that have applied at the three individual universities. However, the trans-disciplinary approach has been identified as the fundamental element for the generation of innovative solutions applied to the built environment within the framework of this Exchange Programme. Therefore, the common selection guidance is to aim for an interdisciplinary mix of excellent students.
Participating Universities: École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Haute école d’ingénierie et d’architecture de Fribourg (HEIA-FR), University of Fribourg (UniFR), Hanyang University, EWHA University, SungKyunKwan University (SKKU)
Exchange School Dates: (1) Summer Exchange School in Switzerland: 22 August -1 September 2022, (2) Winter Exchange School in South Korea: 6-17 February 2023.
The students must be committed to participating in both Exchange Schools and have good communication and written English. In addition, the students should be ready to comply with COVID-related measures in place in South Korea in February 2023 (e.g., vaccinated, have valid COVID test results, etc.).
Financial Support: traveling and accommodation of selected students will be covered by the Program.
Application Procedure:
If you are interested to be part of the unique international program, submit your CV and a Motivational Letter (1 page maximum) to the e-mail [email protected] by May 6th, 2022. Selected students will be informed by May 20th, 2022.
Targeted outcome
• Establishment of the long-term cooperation programme between the partners, facilitate the exchange of ideas among students and enhance creativity.
• Increased mutual knowledge of Swiss and Korean cultures and traditions in architecture, engineering, and technology.
• Reinforced Swiss scientific and cultural presence in the fields of architecture and construction in East-Asia and vice versa.
• Dissemination of the results of the two Exchange Schools – production of the short video and publication of the illustrated book based on the contribution of students.
• Joint research topics originated from the meeting of different competencies among the academicians of the universities involved in the programme.
• Long-term research cooperation and scientific publications as a result of the joint research.