Page 45 - ZEB Final Report 2009-2017

ZEB Indoor Climate & The «Archineer» | 45

The “Archineer”

Michael Gruner, Researcher, SINTEF.

While working on his master thesis, Michael Gruner was involved with

the birth of one of ZEB's nine pilot buildings – Living Lab.

− With teachers from both SINTEF and NTNU, and students worked with daylight calculations on the pilot project for
from the whole of Europe, as well from Nepal, Iran, China, the Evenstad, been involved in simulations and calculations for
working environment was very international, says Gruner, who the wood constructions in Heimdal High School, has compiled
is originally from Germany. a report for the new government headquarters, participated in
Together the students worked towards competing in the developing TEK15 standards as well as lecturing and giving
prestigious student Solar Decathlon Europe in Madrid in 2012 presentations for new students in the Sustainable Architecture
with the “plusshytte” (cabin plus) project. They did not quite Master programme. He is currently working on a project called
get there, but the project attracted so much interest that ZEB Naturligvis (Naturally).
took it under its wing and further − This project looks at the
developed it. climatization of office buildings
− We had unlimited access “You need to be aware of other with a view to exploiting the
to an enormous database of ields and appreciate that there is a physical conditions and natural
knowledge, while at the same time diversity of interests.” ventilation, without involving
the field was still virgin territory. technical installations.
The definitions were in the process Gruner is particularly intent
of being developed and there was a lot of uncertainty. This on including more than one field in the building process.
was positive because it gave rise to many constructive, open − I like to call myself an «archineer» – an architect who
discussions between students and teachers - who often knew no doesn't just hold a pen, but who has a broad knowledge of
more than we did. This made us feel like we were involved at the various professions. You need to be aware of other fields and
start of something big. It is something I am proud of and which appreciate that there is a diversity of interests, for example,
I value as a formative experience. those of engineers. It's not necessarily a matter of finding a
In 2015, after a short period with the architect firm compromise, but rather of agreeing on the optimal knowledge
Link, Gruner started working at SINTEF Building and based solution. A holistic way of thinking is what matters most
Infrastructure, and returned to the ZEB Centre. Here he has for me.