Where does the transformative power of a building lie? The HIL Lab for Living project explores the HIL not merely as a case for renovation, but as a space of possibilities. In collaboration with the ETH Wohnforum, it investigates how the HIL can become a laboratory for living and working. The upcoming renewal—carried out while the building remains in operation—is understood as an opportunity to connect technical requirements with questions of future viability, community, and participation.
The HIL Lab for Living approach is based on experimental work on site, reuse and preservation of the existing structure, and a renovation without displacement. At the same time, it opens up broader societal questions: housing shortages, rising tuition fees, and a fragile culture of welcome at ETH. Through the potential temporary residential use of the HIL, the relationship between learning, living, and social support is re-negotiated.
The context of the HIL is thus read politically: from the Globus Provisorium and the debates on co-determination in the 1960s to current issues of social justice. The project develops as a continuous narrative that brings together analysis, storytelling, and architectural interventions. Its aim is to conceive of the HIL as a place that strengthens social relations and tests a right to housing through architecture—a building as an active agent of societal transformation.