part of Citizen Science
Retrofitting can be an effective way to improve the energy efficiency of a house, but it could also provide exciting opportunities to incorporate nature-based solutions, circular material strategies and participatory design practices. In this paper, the authors present a case study of the Wildhouse project in Brighton, UK, where these regenerative ideas were put into practice.
Exterior view of the Wildhouse project, Brighton, UK.
Photo: Nick Gant / The University of Brighton
In this paper, the authors explore how the Wildhouse project in Brighton offers a new vision of the possibilities offered by retrofitting. Regenerative retrofitting, unlike standard practice, reframes buildings as artefacts that can actively restore ecosystems and strengthen communities.
Wildhouse, therefore, looked beyond energy efficiency and carbon reduction to test solutions that actively contribute to ecological and social regeneration, envisioning housing as a living system entangled with the landscapes from which its materials are sourced.
In order to activate this mode of thinking, the property contains numerous features which draw attention to such entanglements. Wildhouse includes nature-based solutions such as a green roof, passive ventilation systems and a rain garden, as well as other more unusual features: these include a pond phone, which links a chalk wall in the house to a chalk dew pond dug into the South Downs landscape near Wildhouse – house users can hear live sounds from below the pond’s surface. Other features include mixed species timber kitchen cupboards which – when opened – produce sounds from the woods from which the timber was sourced.
This emphasis on connectedness fosters ecological citizenship, cultivating it through direct, material interactions. Wildhouse creates immersive, sensorial experiences of nature within the home. A vital part of Wildhouse was that much of the design work around these experiences was done using participatory and co-creative approaches. The project aimed to show how retrofitting can be an inclusive and participatory process, which ensures that the benefits of nature-first design are accessible to all.
Wildhouse draws attention to the importance of creating resilient, nature-integrated urban environments. The authors concluded by stating that although initial costs of regenerative retrofitting can be high, there are long-term savings to be found in terms of maintenance and energy use. Future research is needed to explore funding mechanisms to make this exciting methodology economically feasible at scale.
Project / The Ecological Citizen(s) project cultivates trans-disciplinary collaboration and research to enable a digital sustainable society for positive climate action.
Other publication / An ambitious initiative providing highly affordable housing in exchange for citizens making their communities healthier, greener, stronger and more joyful.
Other publication / Introducing a new methodology for designers, technologists and citizens to engage with technologies in an ecologically interdependent world.
Journal article / Technological development should centre environmental values to ensure an equitable digital transformation which benefits human and planetary wellbeing.
