Scandinavian architecture firm specialising in BIPV facade integration, digital design methods, and bringing research technologies into real building projects.
White Arkitekter is one of Scandinavia's largest architecture firms, bringing professional architectural design practice directly into EU research consortia. Their H2020 participation reflects two distinct competencies: advanced digital design methodologies in complex building projects, and the architectural integration of energy-generating facade systems such as building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV). In the Be-Smart project, they contributed real-world architectural expertise to the development of multi-functional, coloured BIPV facade elements — translating laboratory technology into buildable, aesthetically viable products. They serve as a critical bridge between material science and construction reality, ensuring that research outputs can actually be specified, detailed, and built.
Be-Smart (2018–2022) focused specifically on coloured active glazing, energy-positive glazing, and architectural integration of multi-functional BIPV elements in real building envelopes.
InnoChain (2015–2020), an MSCA training network, addressed building innovation through extended digital design chains — a domain where practicing firms like White provide real-project grounding.
Be-Smart targeted cost reduction, high reliability, and modularity in building envelopes — design challenges that sit squarely within an architect's scope of work.
Be-Smart's keyword 'real case demonstrators' points to White's role in validating innovations against actual building projects and procurement constraints.
White Arkitekter's H2020 trajectory moves from process innovation to product integration. Their first project, InnoChain (2015), was an MSCA training network concerned with how digital tools reshape the architectural design chain — a methodological, upstream focus with no recorded keywords, suggesting a supporting practitioner role. By 2018, with Be-Smart, the focus had shifted sharply toward tangible building physics outcomes: BIPV panels, energy-positive glazing, colour customisation, and cost performance. This is a clear progression from "how architects design" toward "how buildings generate energy" — reflecting a broader industry shift toward net-zero construction that White is actively participating in as a practitioner-researcher.
White Arkitekter is moving deeper into energy-generating building skins — a direction that makes them a valuable partner for any consortium needing an architect who can ground BIPV, smart glazing, or facade energy systems in real construction and aesthetics.
White Arkitekter never leads EU projects — they join as participant or third party, which is consistent with a large design practice that contributes specialist expertise rather than driving research agendas. Despite this supporting role, they have accumulated 33 unique consortium partners across 11 countries, suggesting broad exposure to international research networks rather than a narrow set of recurring collaborators. Working with them likely means access to a practice with active building projects that can serve as real-world test beds, but not a partner who will manage budgets or coordinate deliverables.
White Arkitekter has worked with 33 distinct consortium partners spanning 11 countries — a notably wide network for just two projects, reflecting the large consortia typical of MSCA training networks and Innovation Actions. Their geographic footprint is European, with no evidence of ties outside the EU research space.
White Arkitekter is a rare type of H2020 participant: a large, commercially active architecture firm rather than a university or research institute. This means they bring real procurement constraints, real clients, and real construction projects into consortia — something most academic partners cannot offer. For any consortium developing building-integrated technologies (BIPV, smart glazing, modular facades), having White in the team provides direct access to architectural specification practice and the aesthetic judgements that determine whether a technology gets adopted in the market.
