“In our mission to catalyze a regenerative future, we need to recognize that regeneration isn’t just about technologies, tools, or even ecosystems. It begins with a more fundamental transformation: The way we think.” – Jamie Miller

Recognizing the critical ecological state of our planet, we recently explored how to integrate regenerative design principles into our everyday work. Regenerative design encourages us to act as stewards for life, creating designs that serve both the community and the environment. It’s a holistic approach that involves understanding and supporting ecosystems to work in harmony with the natural world. As part of our knowledge sharing session for Regenerate Week, a SJ initiative, we hosted a practical workshop focused on adopting a new lens to create buildings and communities that go beyond merely “doing less harm.”

Led by Melissa Mazik and Jamie Miller, this workshop challenged B+H attendees to envision practical ways of integrating regenerative design into our architecture and design work. The session began by defining “What is Regenerative Design?” and discussing how we can effectively measure its success, as well as how others around the world are currently implementing this strategy. Following a lively group discussion, we dove into a Design Fiction exercise.

This exercise encouraged us to imagine what we could build if traditional limitations and our previous biases did not exist. Melissa and Jamie introduced principles for how we at B+H could define regenerative design: Holistic and Harmonic, Seven Generations, Unlikely Collaborations, Evolving Design, and Locally Attuned & Responsive. These principles are crucial for guiding us through “wicked problems”—challenges without precedent for a solution—by bringing diverse thinkers together to achieve higher resolution and understanding of complex situations.

Through these principles, we need to consider how to think long-term and implement strategies within the program, the building, or the construction process itself. How can we create a design that dances with its environment, where the environment leads that dance? This requires us to have a deep understanding of our site, including its watersheds, flora, and fauna.

We also need to understand and collaborate with Indigenous voices, ecologists, communities, and other stakeholders, asking the fundamental question: “What does this place want to become?” Our designs must be tailored to specific local conditions, rather than simply imposing foreign concepts onto sites.