UniZEB: University of Padova Educational Living Lab for Sustainable Construction

UniZEB is a permanent educational living lab for sustainable construction developed by the University of Padua in collaboration with Formedil Padova, local institutions, and industry partners. Established in 2015, the initiative complements traditional teaching through hands-on experimentation on a real building project, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration among academia, industry, and vocational training. University students from diverse disciplines, alongside trainees from the construction training school, collaborates with professors, professionals, and industry partners to design and construct a full-scale building prototype within a multidisciplinary professional workflow. The building is a 90 m2 residential prototype constructed in CLT and equipped with typical Zero Energy Building (ZEB) technologies. It works as an experimental platform where different construction systems and technological solutions are tested under identical conditions. A network of sensors embedded within the building envelope enables continuous monitoring of thermal and environmental parameters, supporting research and performance evaluation. Since its inception, the project has involved more than one thousand students through direct participation and educational dissemination activities, establishing UniZEB as a platform for education, research, and technology transfer in high-performance buildings.