REGENERATIVE BUILDING – Examples, Processes and Narratives from an Ongoing Paradigm Shift

The aim of the project is to enhance and influence discussions about the regenerative transformation of our society’s building sector by means of fact-based mappings and visual scenarios of the future based on these mappings.

Our society is in need of solutions that go beyond the usual way of thinking about sustainability; solutions that not only minimise the environmental impact of buildings but also regenerate our habitat. Regenerative principles are more and more becoming necessary components of a paradigm shift and of our struggle against the effects of climate change and the loss of biodiversity.

This requires a new way of looking at the relationship between the technosphere and the biosphere. We, therefore, need to analyse what regenerative construction can be, and how it might contribute to the paradigm shift we need.

The project Regenerative Building focuses on examples and new design processes with the potential to take us to a regenerative level. The project is a cross-disciplinary collaboration involving partners in The Aarhus Centre for Regenerative Building and people from municipalities and the profession who are working in practice. The researchers ask the following questions:

Which processes and indicators lead to solutions that are regenerative? What opportunities present themselves in today’s building sector?
How can we support the paradigm shift while also maintaining and improving the quality of buildings?
Which design approaches could lead to a regenerative level, in the context of our limited resources and vulnerable habitats?

The researchers will be using three work packages, which include studies of relevant literature, case analysis, and interviews, to identify 1. regenerative ‘lighthouse projects’, 2. what helps the building industry to and prevents it from reaching a regenerative level?, and 3. any design and analysis processes that are likely to lead to a regenerative level, as well as visualisations and scenarios from regenerative building projects.

Facts

Title: Regenerative Building – Examples, Processes and Narratives from an Ongoing Paradigm Shift
Project managers: Lotte Bjerregaard Jensen, Elizabeth Donovan
External partners: Aarhus University, Consulting Engineers Søren Jensen
Expert monitoring group: Skive Municipality, Syddjurs Municipality, Aarhus Municipality, COWI, Rambøll, Cebra Architects, AART
Researchers from AAA who participate in the project: Elizabeth Donovan, Lotte Bjerregaard Jensen, Jens Pedersen, Heidi Sørensen Merrild, August Sørensen, Alicia Lazzaroni, Antonio Bernacchi, Peer Näthke
The project receives funding from Realdania