Project duration
01.04.2022 - 31.09.2026

Funding organisation
DFG Research Training Group

Project partners
Technical University of Munich (TUM)
Helmholtz Munich
Environmental Science Center, Augsburg University

Summary
Human comfort, health and intellectual productivity are determined by indoor climate, as people spend almost 90% of their time indoors. Architectural approaches for creating comfortable indoor conditions throughout the year are not sufficiently effective in many regions. In contrast, technical means for heating, cooling, and ventilation lead to increasing CO2 emissions, and alternative solutions are urgently needed. This is particularly important for cities with disproportionally increasing temperatures and higher demand for cooling. Recent studies have shown that plants and greenery systems, such as trees, climbing plants, facade-integrated plant systems as well as green roofs have a positive effect on the micro-climate of surrounding buildings, but also on indoor thermal comfort and mental health. Thus, innovative UGI provides a methodology to couple both the technical and the biological realms for achieving optimal solutions for enhancing indoor thermal conditions while minimizing the buildings' energy consumption and carbon emissions.

Project team
Farzan Banihashemi