Architects must urgently go beyond creating sustainable architecture that minimises damage to the planet and design buildings that help repair it, says Michael Pawlyn from Architects Declare.
Biomimetic architect Pawyln, who has played a key role in promoting Architects Declare, believes that architecture that "just mitigates negatives" is not going far enough.
"We all fooled ourselves that sustainability was getting us where we needed to go and it was all making everything better," he told Dezeen.
"There's something inherently problematic in the framing of sustainability that implies the best you can aspire to is neutrality, and anything less than that is just part of a degenerative downward cycle."
Pawlyn has played a key role in promoting Architects Declare that was launched by Stirling Prize winners in May Pawlyn says that if the industry is to truly help tackle the multiple environmental challenges of today, architects must design buildings that give more than they take.
"We urgently need to look at means to be regenerative"
Pawlyn believes the solution is regenerative design ? the development of restorative and renewable systems where output is always greater than input, beneficial for humans and other species.
"We urgently need to look at means to be regenerative, which is to get into a positive cycle in which everything we do we're trying to have a positive impact ? in terms of restoring ecosystems, taking carbon out of t...