What is Regenerative Design?

Story at a glance:

• Regenerative design aims to create built environments that serve as integral, active components of their respective socio-ecological communities.
• Whole-systems thinking, landscape integration, and the adoption of circular economic strategies are just a few of the core principles behind regenerative design.
• Surfacedesign’s revitalization of The Beach at Expedia Group is one such example of how regenerative design can be implemented to create functional built environments that play an active role in restoring ecological health.

Sustainable design has become increasingly common over the last several decades as public attitudes and expectations shift toward a preference for green development practices, but as the climate crisis looms ever closer, many are saying it’s not enough to do “less harm” when it comes to the ecological impact of our built environment.

Instead, architects, engineers, urban planners, and other AEC professionals are beginning to adopt regenerative design principles to create buildings, sites, and systems that actively replenish resources and rejuvenate the landscapes in which they are embedded.

This article is an introductory guide to regenerative design and the principles that govern it.

What is Regenerative Design?

In ecology, regeneration describes the process by which an organism or ecosystem suffering from damage or degradation recovers and restores its equilibrium over time. At the ecosystem level, regeneration happens to some degree at a nigh-constant rate in response to ever-changing factors, allowing ecological communities to replenish resources and reestablish ecological functions as needed.

From a development standpoint, regenerative design refers to a set of principles and strategies used by AEC professionals to engineer systems and built environments that actively restore planetary health by co-existing and co-evolving with their surroundings over time. As active members of their respective socio-ecological communities, regenerative designs are engineered to give back more than they take by mimicking the restorative biological systems found in nature.

“Regenerative design in its simplest form is design that goes beyond sustainability with the mantra of ‘do no harm,’” Don Haynes, EHS and sustainability manager for Florim USA, previously wrote for gb&dPRO. “It is based on holistic thinking and draws inspiration from systems and images found in nature. It aims to reconnect and realign humans and their activities with the natural environment, thereby reducing the negative environmental impacts of today’s society while addressing urgent issues such as climate change, the lingering Covid-19 pandemic, and whatever may come next.”

The basic ideas behind regenerative design are nothing new; many regenerative strategies are fundamentally rooted in Indigenous practices and traditional ecological knowledge.

Regenerative vs. Sustainable Design

In most cases sustainable design looks to create built environments with a net-zero impact on the natural world by limiting energy use and resource consumption. This idea of “doing less harm” has long dominated the green building movement, but many in the field are coming to the realization that it is not enough to simply sustain current levels of planetary health.

“A majority of the conversation around sustainability in architecture has focused on mitigating environmental impact, i.e. producing less waste and doing less harm to the planet” Henry Celli, an associate principal and senior architect at CBT, wrote in a previous gb&d article. “While this is a critical pillar of environmentally conscious design, our current climate crisis calls for more aggressive action.”

Regenerative design is that aggressive action, as it aims to create built environments with a net-positive impact on the natural world, or built spaces that actively work to restore resources and aid in the reversal of existing ecological damage.

Why Do We Need Regenerative Design?

While regenerative design has existed in some form for hundreds if not thousands of years, the widespread adoption of regenerative design principles has yet to catch on in our modern world. In recent years, however, more people have started to realize how important regenerative design is to slowing, stopping, and hopefully reversing the worst effects of anthropogenic climate change.

All species have the capacity to influence their environments, but few—if any—are capable of altering planetary systems to the degree humans have over the last several hundred years. Activities like deforestation, the excessive burning of fossil fuels, air and water pollution, over-extraction of resources, use of unsustainable agricultural methods, and other damaging practices have all put enormous strain on Earth’s capacity to support life as we know it.

If we are to be good ancestors and prevent climate catastrophe, we must radically rethink the way in which we design the human world and remember that we are part of—not separate from—nature and its systems. Regenerative design is a crucial part of this paradigm shift and provides a framework for harmoniously reconnecting the built environment with existing ecological communities and repairing the damage our actions have caused.

Of course, even widespread implementation of regenerative design principles isn’t going to stop climate change overnight, but it can help the built environment better weather prolonged periods of drought, tropical storms, flooding, and other climate disasters while we work towards a better future. “Buildings designed with regenerative principles are better equipped to withstand these challenges as they integrate systems and materials that can adapt to changing conditions while supporting ecological recovery,” Joseph Mamayek, a principal at SGA, previously wrote for gb&d.

Regenerative Design Principles

Because regenerative design is largely concerned with engineering solutions tailored to specific environments and the dynamic human/nature interfaces they contain, there is no one-size-fits-all approach that may be applied to all projects in all places. There are, however, a few basic principles that form the foundation of regenerative design as a philosophy, of which can help guide regenerative design practitioners in finding solutions most appropriate to their projects.

Whole-Systems Thinking

A comprehensive site analysis is crucial for any green development project, but regenerative design asks architects to take this a step further by using a complex whole-systems approach to better understand how a project might impact—and be impacted by—factors both within and beyond the site’s immediate boundaries.

This involves taking into account how environmental elements like climate, seasonality, annual precipitation, groundwater tables, prevailing winds, geographic features, animal and insect migration patterns, and soil composition might influence a design, but also begs consideration as to how existing socio-cultural and economic factors will be impacted by the completed design.

By approaching a proposed design as part of a larger system, it becomes easier to envision the completed project as an integral member of the socio-ecological community, rather than a separate entity imposed upon a landscape. Ultimately this leads to healthy interdependence between all parts and players in the system. Each part of the system serves multiple functions and is designed to mutually support all other parts, creating an interconnected network of mutually beneficial relationships.

Landscape Integration & Resource Replenishment

Thoroughly integrating a project into the existing landscape is also a core component of regenerative design—one that enables built habitats to function as active participants that co-evolve with their ecological communities and organically adapt as needed to changes in environmental conditions or needs.

This can be achieved in part through the implementation of bio-inspired and biomimetic design strategies, or those methodologies that seek to emulate the biological systems and processes found in nature. Such strategies are crucial in efficiently transforming inherently abiotic buildings into active entities capable of performing pseudo-biological functions to the benefit of their ecological communities. “By incorporating these methods—known as biomimicry—into architecture, we can achieve a more intuitive approach to regeneration that requires less mechanical intervention,” writes Celli.

For regenerative designs to be truly integrated into their respective landscapes, however, they must also replenish those resources that they use. Green roofs and living facades seeded with native plantings, for example, are two ways to restore native habitats lost as a result of new development and help maintain biodiversity amongst birds, bees, butterflies, and other organisms. At the same time these features also function as passive cooling systems by reducing solar heat absorption, resulting in decreased cooling loads.

Net-Positive Energy Production & Energy Efficiency

As we’ve already mentioned, regenerative designs are intended to have a net-positive impact on the natural world, so it should come as no surprise that net-positive energy production—or the generation of more onsite renewable energy than is used—is a critical component of regenerative design.

Regenerative design also recognizes that certain technologies used to harness and store renewable energies are reliant on rare earth minerals that are themselves finite. For this reason regenerative design frameworks also encourage an extremely high degree of energy efficiency to minimize operational energy requirements as a whole.

Strategies like daylighting, natural ventilation, passive solar heating, air-sealing, insulation, and more can all help designs drastically reduce their energy use, which in turn allows for smaller energy grids and fewer energy storage batteries, minimizing the need for new material extraction.

Prioritization of Circular Design Strategies

Regenerative design is inherently at odds with our society’s dominant “take, make, and throw away” model of production and consumption, aligning much more closely with circular economic ideas that prioritize sharing, reclamation, refurbishment, reuse, and recycling to ensure materials remain in use for as long as possible.

Building circularity into regenerative designs ultimately starts with making responsible material choices. Materials should be durable, nontoxic, and possess a low embodied carbon to ensure that they remain in use for as long as possible without posing a threat to human or environmental health.

Making smart, circular material choices enables regenerative designs to be engineered with disassembly and adaptive reuse in mind. “Renovating, remodeling, and repurposing existing buildings almost always generates significantly fewer embodied emissions than new construction,” writes Haynes. “Finding creative ways to reuse existing buildings is an increasingly important strategy for reducing embodied emissions.”

Social Equity & Community Integration

In order for regenerative designs to be truly successful, they must be collaborative and involve people from a wide range of backgrounds—including those from the immediate community—to ensure they adequately serve and support communities’ goals. This ties back into the notion of whole-systems thinking and may be conceptualized as the integration of projects not just into existing ecological landscapes, but existing social landscapes as well.

In doing so, regenerative design helps ensure equitable development as opposed to the so-called “green gentrification” that often accompanies eco-conscious development, as it integrates the values and needs of the existing community into the project and its future growth. “By integrating community needs into the design process, projects can address food security, housing affordability, and equitable access to resources,” writes Mamayek.

3 Regenerative Design Examples

Now that we’ve a better understanding of what regenerative design is, let’s take a look at a few real-world examples from around the world.

1. The Beach at Expedia Group, Seattle

Completed in 2019, the Expedia Group commissioned Surfacedesign to rework the 2.6-acre waterfront property to highlight the beautiful coastline and improve its longevity and resiliency.

The renovated coastal land connecting to the Elliott Bay Trail improved safety for cyclists and joggers, whereas it once succumbed to dangerous storm conditions. Upon rebuilding the property, local material reclamation and adaptive reuse were high priorities and among the strategies to increase the land’s resiliency. By including reclaimed stone and knotty spruce from a defunct log mill in neighboring Port Angeles, a naturalist setting for play and informal meetings took form.

Designed to enhance the beauty of Washington’s rugged coastline, the Surfacedesign team used several native grasses and perennials to create a space akin to what might be found in nature but also one that can withstand the Puget Sound’s stormy weather and rare but increasing heatwaves. Native plants like gumweed and wild buckwheat create texture and rhythm along the winding coastal meadow disguising their high weather tolerance for a less useful but dreamy landscape.

Of all the aspects of Surfacedesign’s revitalization of the Beach, however, none were as integral as the introduction of an extensive soil program. Due to the site’s early development history, almost all existing soil had been depleted of key nutrients and was largely devoid of diverse microbiological life—what little healthy soil remained was collected and used to develop regenerated soil blends with similar characteristics to that of the site’s native soil.

“This approach established sustainable and resilient soils and planting communities that will continue to grow into natural balance with the Seattle environment,” Michal Kapitulnik, a partner of Surfacedesign, previously wrote for gb&d. “Soil testing and monitoring after installation informed formulation of compost tea blends used to seasonally inoculate the soil and plants, stimulating biological activity and resilience without the use of chemical fertilizers or other inputs.”

By cultivating a healthy soil profile, the team at Surfacedesign was able to effectively landscape with plants and grasses native to the Puget Sound. Special attention was focused on those plants capable of attracting and harboring wildlife so as to bolster and maintain taxonomic diversity.

2. Studio Ma’s Xero Studio, Phoenix

In Phoenix Studio Ma’s Xero Studio showcases how regenerative design can be implemented even in extreme environments.

Embedded in the Sonoran Desert, Xero Studio is clad in Kebony wood and uses architectural screening to reduce solar glare and heat gain, diminishing the need for mechanical air conditioning. Operable skylights also serve as daylighting strategies and ventilation points; when opened, they expel heat back outside, allowing the studio to passively cool itself for at least four months out of the year. Indigenous plant species further serve to cool the building by providing shade. To achieve net-zero energy usage Studio Ma implemented photovoltaics that generate electricity from sunlight.

Studio Ma wasn’t without roadblocks when designing their new headquarters. “Our goal is 100% regenerative architecture, but this restriction means we have had to become advocates with the city government to promote net-zero water policies, such as allowing for blackwater-to-potable systems,” Christopher Alt, architect with Studio Ma, previously told gb&d.

As is the case for many cities in the US and throughout the world, Phoenix has regulations in place that prevent blackwater-to-potable water recycling systems. In lieu of these restrictions, Studio Ma has taken measures to improve onsite water efficiency and reduce wastewater production from the outset. Xeriscaped bioswales were implemented to effectively manage and filter stormwater runoff, aiding in the recharging of local groundwater reservoirs.

3. Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center, MT

In the Northwoods of Minnesota the Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center is exemplary in its use of regenerative design principles. Featuring a 10kW wind turbine, solar thermal domestic water heating, 18.5 kW photovoltaic array, and biomass space heating, the campus is a pioneer in renewable energy. An onsite organic farm provides approximately 20% of the center’s produce and composts all organic waste generated by the campus.

Of all of Wolf Ridge’s buildings, however, the Margaret A. Cargill (MAC) Lodge is the most impressive—and the first on-site structure to be Living Building Challenge certified.

Designed by HGA, the MAC Lodge—which is a renovation of the old center’s West Dorm—was built to achieve net-positive energy and water usage, generating or collecting more energy and water than it requires. All water is sourced from a well and does not require any sort of treatment—wastewater is collected, treated, and released on-site to refill underground water tables.

Passive cooling strategies reduce the need for mechanical climate control and intelligent room sensors automatically shut lights off when they aren’t needed. Daylighting strategies are implemented to the fullest extent and the lodge itself is surrounded by local flora, facilitating complete immersion with the surrounding environment.