A few essential answers to a variety of questions
The result of close collaboration between universities, colleges and real estate professionals, Ecofaubourgs® was initiated by HKA Finance, a Franco-Swiss property developer specialized in financing, designing, developing and selling housing. Since 1991 HKA Finance has obtained over 100 construction permits and built 3,500 homes.
During its meetings with investors, local authorities and clients, the HKA team learnt how to ask different questions, such as: What criteria determine a person’s choice of home? Why do people want to live in a town or city? What are the consequences of a booming population and climate change for collective housing? How do you respond to residents’ needs (particularly for mobility) while also managing resources more sustainably?
In 2006, as climate change and the energy crisis led local authorities to look at new development models and made the case for stricter standards and labels, HKA Finance realised that we needed to change the very way in which we design and manage housing. With the help of the HSLU Lucerne and the ETH Zurich, the property developer created Ecofaubourgs®.
Its aim was to accompany the emergence of modes of use and consumption by linking housing to a range of free-choice services and enable city-dwellers to combine quality of life with greater responsibility.
So what is so original about Ecofaubourgs®? The fact that it is drawing on academic research to change the nature of housing.
The Ecofaubourgs® approach is deliberately holistic and transdisciplinary. Developed with the aid of the HSLU Lucerne and the ETH Zurich, it thinks of habitat as a space in which identity and subjectivity can express themselves and as a place where social relationships can flourish. Therefore, it does not stop at selecting and implementing the most efficient construction techniques, but also takes account of residents’ lifestyles and how they use the buildings.