Model Apartment as a Testing Laboratory

By project CEI BOOST

Published on 11 February 2025

Finland

Etelä-Suomi

About this good practice

Housing significantly contributes to emissions and faces social sustainability challenges. Innovative solutions are needed to support sustainable development and the circular economy. Demolishing old buildings for new construction is often seen as cost-effective but not environmentally smart. Costs can be reduced and lifecycles extended through good planning and participatory design. Social challenges require solutions that promote community, accessibility, and purpose, influencing behavior and reducing consumption.

The test apartment, built as part of an ERDF project at LAB University of Applied Sciences is a living lab for sustainable housing, circular economy practices, and digital technologies. It combines advanced technologies and design principles to address social sustainability, energy efficiency, waste reduction, and resource scarcity. The apartment serves as a testbed for innovations, construction methods and sustainable materials, evaluating behavior through digital solutions.

The test apartment contributes to adaptable housing models, including assisted living for disabled and aging populations. Innovations in modular construction, smart home solutions and accessible design improve quality of life, care services, and long-term sustainability. Digital applications enable hybrid testing with remote participation. The apartment helps designers, construction firms and policymakers adopt scalable circular economy practices, benefiting communities and the environment.

Expert opinion

The Model Apartment as a Testing Laboratory offers a replicable, low-risk environment for testing innovative, circular, and energy-efficient housing solutions under real-life conditions before market rollout. This living lab approach enables construction firms, designers, and policymakers to evaluate new materials, modular systems, smart technologies, and user-centric designs in practice—significantly reducing the cost and risk of full-scale implementation. For regional policy makers, it represents a strategic tool to accelerate the green transition in housing by bridging innovation and regulation, while fostering collaboration between R&D, SMEs, and the public sector. Its participatory design and digital monitoring enable rapid iteration, inclusive adaptation (e.g. for ageing populations), and behavior-driven insights. By integrating circularity, accessibility, and digital tools, the model boosts both environmental and social sustainability. This living lab approach also fosters cross-sector collaboration and equips policymakers with practical insights to shape regulations that encourage circular practices. Its demonstrated success and relatively modest investment make it a strong candidate for transfer to regions seeking to modernize housing policies, enhance innovation capacity, and support local job creation in sustainable construction.

Luc Schmerber

Works at Interreg Europe Policy Learning Platform

Resources needed

The resources are needed for planning, materials, construction, and equipment, including digital devices for monitoring. Estimated costs are 250 000 - 300 000€.

Evidence of success

In the “Sustainable Service Housing Ecosystem” ERDF project, the model apartment enabled key adjustments to the senior housing project during its planning phase.

Since then, it has hosted successful experiments in user experience, usability, and accessibility, proving its value as an adaptable testing environment. The test apartment has shown to be a versatile platform for experiments, particularly those costly and resource-intensive in real construction projects.

Potential for learning or transfer

The test apartment serves as a practical environment for experimenting with solutions that are otherwise costly and resource-intensive. This can be applied to other fields where trial and error are crucial before full-scale implementation. The concept of using a test environment to identify and correct mistakes before actual production can be transferred to various industries, promoting cost and resource efficiency. The model apartment’s role as an adaptable and innovative testing environment can inspire similar setups in other sectors, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and innovation.

In the test apartment experiments and solutions can be monitored and observed using digital tools. In addition for example, sensors and IoT devices can collect real-time data that can be analyzed to support decision-making. Additionally, digital platforms enable remote monitoring and control, allowing experiments to be tracked and adjusted from anywhere.