South Korean-Swiss Academic Exchange Program- Human Environment with Smart Tech 2024-2025

The South Korean-Swiss Academic Exchange Program, designed for master’s students from EPFL, HEIA-FR, and UNIFR, will explore the interplay between architectural design, human factors, and advanced technologies in office buildings. The program examines how these elements collectively influence indoor environmental quality and human-building interaction, particularly in the context of local culture and architecture in the post-pandemic era.

South Korea- Switzerland, known for its robust technological advancements and commitment to sustainable practices, is collaborating internationally through this initiative. Their goal is to enhance awareness of urbanism, address social issues, and develop solutions inspired by their distinct cultures and policies.

Now in its third iteration, the ARC-HEST program facilitates collaboration among Swiss and Korean scholars and students from various disciplines. This collaboration involves a comprehensive study of each country’s working environment, integrated with insights into local culture and architecture. The program includes Exchange Schools featuring a two-week Summer School in 2024 in South Korea and a Winter School in 2025 in Switzerland.

These sessions include lectures, workshops, and studio activities. A key component of each Exchange School is student visits to three case study buildings, where they conduct detailed analyses of the buildings’ design, operation, indoor comfort, and occupant behavior. Students are tasked with developing building assessment methods and with collecting, processing, and evaluating data to create innovative solutions that enhance indoor environmental quality, occupant satisfaction, and human-building interaction across diverse profiles and architectural designs in both Switzerland and South Korea.

The program recognizes that building behavior and indoor environmental quality vary between the heating (winter) and cooling (summer) seasons. Thus, it investigated summer comfort in Switzerland from August 22 to September 1, 2022, and winter comfort in South Korea from February 6 to 17, 2023.

Each Exchange School involves the selection of 30 students, equally divided between the two countries. These students, proficient in both written and spoken English, are expected to participate in both Exchange Schools. Selection is conducted by the universities, prioritizing a trans-disciplinary mix of outstanding candidates to foster innovative solutions within the built environment.

Targeted Outcomes:

• Establish a long-term cooperation program that facilitates the exchange of ideas among students and enhances creativity.
• Expand mutual understanding of Swiss and Korean cultural traditions in architecture, engineering, and technology.
• Strengthen the scientific and cultural presence of Switzerland in East Asia and vice versa in the fields of architecture and construction.
• Disseminate the results of the Exchange Schools through a short video and an illustrated book featuring student contributions.
• Initiate joint research topics by merging diverse academic competencies.
• Foster long-term collaborative research efforts leading to scientific publications.

ECTS Credits:

The program is equivalent to a semester project, offering 4 ECTS credits for master’s students at EPFL (ENAC), 5 ECTS for those at UNIFR, and 6 ECTS for students at HEIA-FR.

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