The building stock of the future should have net zero greenhouse gas emissions. It will contribute in a decentralised manner to the stable supply of heat, cooling and electricity in energy networks. It will be operated in an energy-efficient and CO2-free manner. Unavoidable greenhouse gas emissions from construction, renovation and demolition must be permanently stored. The overarching guideline for the Buildings and Cities research programme is the Energy Strategy 2050 and the objectives of the Climate and Innovation Act. The SIA Climate Path serves as a tool for assessing the achievement of targets for individual buildings.
Current research priorities
Sites and neighbourhoods
Further development of sustainability strategies; optimised interaction between energy production, storage, distribution and consumption to increase security of supply, especially in winter; buildings and sites as energy service providers; accelerated load management; resilience to climate change and microclimates in urban areas.
Thermal networks
Demand forecasting; cooling technologies; system design and operation of sustainable district heating and cooling networks (potential and integration); investigation of the scope for action with regard to thermal networks from the perspective of buildings, sites and neighbourhoods: typologies, storage, integration of renewables, innovative concepts for supplying heat consumers with high temperatures for space heating.
Buildings
Energy- and cost-efficient systems for building renovation: New concepts, approaches and technologies for both building envelopes and energy-efficient renovation solutions that do not require external thermal insulation; grey greenhouse gas emissions; minimisation of material flows, LCA and increased recyclability towards a circular economy; energy, material and building data in planning and operation; building envelope: Competition for space, innovative systems and technologies; resilience to global warming.
Building technology
Building automation, monitoring and operational optimisation; heating systems with low CO2 emissions and reduced peak loads for electricity and heating networks in winter, retrofittable cooling systems for old and new buildings; LCA of HVAC elements and systems.
People, market, politics
Options for accelerating the transformation of the building stock and increasing the renovation rate (new approaches to incentives, standards, regulations); influencing factors, drivers and obstacles, as well as possible incentives for building owners to network/join an energy network; incentive systems for sufficiency.
Documents
Call for project submissions in the ‘Buildings and Cities’ research programme
This year's call focuses on approaches to net zero in the building life cycle with a focus on building construction and sustainable building technology and renovation solutions for existing buildings. Another focus is on air conditioning in the context of increasing PV production and the interaction of buildings with the electricity grid. The plan is to support approximately 15–20 projects with a total federal contribution of around CHF 2 million.
- Aufruf zur Projekteingabe im Forschungsprogramm „Gebäude und Städte“
(PDF, 196 KB, 13.01.2026) ID: 12446 | 938
- Projektskizze Aufruf 2026 (Eingabe bis 2. März 2026). Vorlage
(DOCX, 92 KB, 13.01.2026) ID: 12448 | 938
- Ergänzung der Ökobilanzdaten für Gebäudetechnik (Beilage 1.3). Zwischenbericht – Kurzübersicht Datensätze
(PDF, 545 KB, 12.12.2025) ID: 12447 | 938
Project list
- Liste der bewilligten Projekte 2024
(PDF, 227 KB, 30.10.2024) ID: 11911 | 619
- Liste der bewilligten Projekte 2022
(PDF, 174 KB, 12.12.2022) ID: 2966 | 619
Last modification 13.01.2026
