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UCL Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering

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Controlled Active Ventilation Environment (CAVE)

The Controlled Active Ventilation Environment (CAVE) laboratory specialises in creating and maintaining resilient buildings and indoor environments.

About us

Welcome to the Controlled Active Ventilation Environment (CAVE) laboratory! CAVE is a unique large scale air quality and ventilation lab for applied and fundamental science and engineering studies.

At CAVE we create fully monitored and full-scale "living labs" for testing. We use the main laboratory space to simulate realistic external urban environments, and then construct full-scale buildings within the space to simulate realistic indoor environments.


Our Mission

Our mission at the CAVE laboratory is to provide a carefully controlled test facility to develop the knowledge base on how real occupied indoor environments perform when they are subject to internal and external challenges. We study how ventilation technologies, indoor and outdoor air pollution can impact on indoor air quality, in the context of sustainable building design.

We believe in rigorous testing grounded in science and engineering, and in co-production of knowledge and know-how across disciplinary and professional boundaries. We are committed to disseminating our findings through data sharing and wider collaborations, and to facilitate and promote collaboration in our field between academia, industry, professional institutions, government and communities. 

Addressing Challenges 

We aim to be part of the solution, and our research focuses on how to make indoor environments safer, healthier and more resilient for urban residents who increasingly spend most of their time in indoor settings. 

The built environment is subject to unprecedented stressors in the 21st century. Buildings have to perform to conflicting demands to keep occupants healthy, productive, comfortable and safe, whilst delivering on key environmental, energy and sustainability targets at low cost. Through our work in CAVE, we can address these problems holistically in collaboration with our partners. We can help them navigate these challenges and develop cost-effective solutions that work for people and planet.


Our Research

Controlled Active Ventilation Environment (CAVE) laboratory can be used to:

  • Simulate indoor environments such as office buildings or schools to test ventilation technologies for a wide range of climate conditions.
  • Simulate exterior urban environments such as street canyons, to study building elements and facades, green infrastructure, pedestrian comfort and pollution dispersion.
  • Simulate air quality hazards to improve understanding of indoor-outdoor exchange and promote solutions for healthy buildings.

Research Workflow and Capabilities


Our Projects

PROJECTS WILL BE ADDED SOON.