Collaboration By Design

Link Lab Facility

The Link Lab was intentionally designed to foster connections that drive interdisciplinary research. Located in a 17,000 sq. ft. facility adjacent to all UVA engineering departments, it serves as the central hub for interdisciplinary research and education. 

The facility includes conference rooms, brainstorming areas, faculty offices, student desks, and shared workspaces designed to support both collaboration and focused research. The Link Lab’s open floor plan encourages spontaneous interactions, while writable surfaces throughout the space make it easy to sketch concepts, share ideas, and engage in technical discussions. At the heart of the Link Lab is the 3,000-square-foot Arena, a flexible space for research demos, large-scale testbeds, seminars, and events. The facility also includes a 2,000 sq. ft. maker space that enables researchers to rapidly design, build, and test new technologies. 

Seventeen faculty offices and more than 100 student and postdoctoral workspaces are located within the Link Lab, with all other members located in their home departments. This distributed model - a shared interdisciplinary space and direct connection to disciplines - strengthens collaboration while maintaining strong departmental affiliations.

Architectural floor plan of an office suite showing multiple open office areas, private offices, meeting rooms, a conference room, hardware lab, library, kitchenette, restrooms, elevator and stair core, storage and janitor closets, phone booth, work/copy area, and corridors connecting all spaces.

"Living Link Lab"

Link Lab as a Testbed

The "Living Link Lab" is a multidisciplinary CPS research testbed that enables long-term, in-situ studies of how buildings can better support occupants. Located within UVA's Link Lab, the Living Link Lab combines a dense deployment of environmental sensors, IoT devices, wearable technologies, and building automation systems with an open, scalable software infrastructure to support research on occupant behavior, cognition, health, wellness, comfort, productivity, energy efficiency, and sustainable building operations. 

Living Link Lab Research

The testbed has enabled research spanning ventilation and indoor environmental quality studies, indoor localization technologies, occupant privacy in sensor-rich buildings, modular and upgradable sensing platforms, and automated assessment of indoor conditions. The Living Link Lab has also served as the foundation for follow-on research in areas including intelligent facility management, environmentally friendly and sustainable IoT systems, and automated building inspection technologies. 

Living Link Lab Education

Also serving as a major educational resource, the Living Link Lab supports hands-on instruction in more than 10 undergraduate and graduate courses at the University of Virginia and has provided research and experiential learning opportunities for more than 500 undergraduate, master's, and Ph.D. students.