Regenerative Building LAB (reLAB)

The re(generative building)LAB is a global alliance of researchers and experimenters committed to the systemic transformation of the materials, means, and methods of the contemporary built environment.

With the shared goal to‍

• stabilize our climate,
• restore natural ecosystems
• ensure human health, safety, and well-being,

reLAB imagines and implements regionally specific building pilots and experimental testbeds conducted as

• demonstrations to the public,
• recommendations to policy makers,
• guidance for current practitioners,
• inspiration for future change-makers.

reLAB brings together builders, engineers, social scientists, designers and artists, to respond to the urgent need for proven alternatives to the status quo. It seeks to enable a radical change from destructive practices of design, extraction, consumption, and waste in the building sector by collectively answering questions such as:

• What is the potential of a transition to a biobased construction sector?
• How should conservation and construction work together?
• How can a biobased building sector create the basis for a large-scale reinvestment in our biosphere?
• What are the economic, social and environmental risks that will accompany such radical changes and how can they be addressed?

To answer these questions, reLAB has convened a transdisciplinary group of experts on regenerative building, benefitting from the complementarity of differing approaches, varied areas of focus and expertise, and diverse cultural, socioeconomic, political, and bioregional contexts.

Depending on the project, reLAB members variably contribute

• design, engineering, and material science consultation,
• scientific assessment,
• educational development
• bespoke or novel building materials and or prefabricated components
• site construction labour and/or supervision.

Spanning the entire building lifecycle from

• design
• construction
• assessment
• education
• policy

reLAB offers

• connection - convening power through a transdisciplinary global network of world-renowned partners, peer-to-peer knowledge sharing and problem solving.
• insight – a systemic view of regenerative building practices capable of zooming in on site specific innervations.
• access – to extensive intellectual expertise such as material and wood science, material and component testing, Life Cycle Assements, energy simulations, full scale building assembly, experimental building, participatory and community-based construction projects, policy development, regulatory design among others.

Steering group

Bauhaus Earth
Alan Organschi; Lily Teitelbaum; Prof. Dr.Philipp Misselwitz

InnoRenew CoE
Prof. Andreja Kutnar

Aalto University
Prof. Pekka Heikinnen; Prof. Dr. Matti Kuittinen

Design Academy Eindhoven
Moritz Maria Karl; Lukas Wegwerth

Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia
Dr. Daniel Ibañez

Centre for Natural Material Innovation, Department of Architecture, Cambridge University
Prof. Michael Ramage