Buildings as living systems – towards a tangible framework for ecosystem services design

Increasing societal challenges related to human health and well-being result from a disturbed functioning of biological ecosystems. This degradation is largely a consequence of climate change, land-use change, and pollution which contribute to biodiversity loss. Adaptation to the impact of climate change is perhaps the most dominant long-term challenge in the building industry. Regenerative building design may be one strategy to work towards this. The generation of ecosystem services (ES) is essential in achieving ecological functionality in buildings. From an ecological perspective, employing metaphors like ‘living buildings’ or buildings as ‘living systems’ potentially contribute towards regenerative building practice. In this paper, we argue that design strategies that generate ES can contribute to buildings that begin to function like living systems. This research presents a unification of relevant theories and concepts from biological sciences and regenerative architecture that describe the properties of building related ‘living systems’. These properties can serve as guidelines for regenerative design practice at the building scale.