The Smart Living Lab and Bluefactory Fribourg-Freiburg SA launched in 2018 an open call for tenders for a collaborative Parallel Studies Mandate (in French: MEP Mandat d'études parallèles) to produce a preliminary design for a new building. In July 2019, the group made up of Behnisch Architekten, Drees & Sommer Schweiz AG, and ZPF Ingenieure AG won this MEP in order to define the project of the future iconic building of the research center located in the blueFACTORY innovation district, Fribourg.