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Journal of Chinese
Architecture and Urbanism Storytelling in regenerative architecture

lighting systems. Renewable energy sources such as solar, transfer of electrons between different bodies. However,
wind, and geothermal power should be favored to reduce in the modern world, energy has been commodified and
our dependence on fossil fuels. In addition, buildings and stripped of inherent complexity. Industrial society’s use of
spaces should prioritize water conservation, employing fossil fuels transforms long-deceased organic matter into
strategies such as rainwater harvesting, greywater seemingly limitless power, elevating humans to quasi-
recycling, and low-flow plumbing fixtures. Green roofs and divine status by animating machines. This process, however,
walls should be incorporated where possible into building has severely depleted natural resources, endangering our
design, helping to reduce energy consumption, improve future. XENO’s intricate energy exchange both animates
air quality, and provide habitat for wildlife. Buildings and the plant and implicates us in the ethical dilemmas and
spaces that are resilient to the impacts of climate change, processes of (re)vitalization within an “alien” energy
15
including rising sea levels, extreme weather events, and ecosystem. A comparison can be made to the fate of the
natural disasters, should be favored. This implies strategies creature in Kafka’s story The Burrow, discussed below.
such as elevating buildings above flood zones, using In essence, a compelling story has the power to move,
hurricane-resistant materials, and designing buildings to inspire, challenge, and cultivate empathy for the natural
withstand earthquakes. Cultural heritage prioritizes the world. Stories, as I have argued, are crucial tools for
adaptive reuse of existing buildings and spaces to reduce the devising, understanding, and communicating regenerative
environmental impact of new construction and preserve architecture by establishing connections between folk
historic and cultural resources. While these principles are tales, mythologies, and core principles of regenerative
becoming widely accepted to varying degrees in different architecture. I have aimed to advance these claims in
building cultures, communicating their significance and accessible language, providing a basic toolkit that others can
potential requires finding ways to embed their beneficial develop and apply while acknowledging the inconvenient
qualities in a compelling story. truth that powerful stories in fiction rarely affirm a single
A compelling story possesses the ability to inspire us, idea but tend to be complex, contradictory, and ambiguous,
forge emotional connections with others and the natural drawing on the resources of paradox and uncertainty. Over
world, and challenge our beliefs and values. It aids in time, they solidify into gourds that might somehow yield
cultivating empathy for other living beings, urging us to provisional cartographies, imaginary choreographies, and
perceive the world through their eyes. Through narratives slippery epistemologies.
that illuminate the beauty and awe of the natural world, Which brings us to Kafka.
along with the destructive impact of human activities such
as pollution and deforestation, we can engage people’s 5. The Burrow by Franz Kafka
hearts and minds in a way that statistics and data cannot. Kafka’s final short story, The Burrow, can be read as a
Stories about individuals and communities taking steps to powerful allegory of regenerative architecture. In this
reduce environmental impact or advocating for policies that narrative, we encounter a creature meticulously residing
protect the natural world can motivate others to take similar in a self-made burrow, obsessively preoccupied with
action. Narratives emphasizing the interconnectedness its security and maintenance. The story unfolds with
of all living beings and the significance of safeguarding numerous architectural dimensions, highlighting the
biodiversity and ecosystem health challenge the notion choices involved in constructing and sustaining the
of humans being separate from nature, fostering a more burrow. In the narrator’s voice, we hear something of the
holistic and sustainable worldview. Stories with animals, neurotic solipsism of the ill-prepared architect confronting
plants, and other non-human entities as main characters the current environmental crisis.
encourage different generations to view them not merely
as resources or commodities but as valuable and unique The creature devotes its time to building and maintaining
entities in their own right. This concept is explored in our its underground burrow, which largely delineates the horizon
latest project, XENO, an installation featuring a chimeric of its thought. The obsessive attention to construction details
plant hybrid composed of mechanical and animal parts. This consumes endless hours, involving tasks such as reinforcing
hybrid draws energy from silts and mosquitoes that feed walls, digging new tunnels, and fortifying the home against
on human blood, challenging our understanding of natural potential invaders: external threats and the possibility
energy and reframing it as a precious exchange between of unseen creatures advancing through the soil demand
living bodies rather than a value-free resource. Natural 15 XENO is exhibited at the CIVA museum in Brussels as
energy involves a constant negotiation between living part of the POWER Expo until March 17, 2024. The
organisms operating through metabolism. In its simplest cyborg hydroponic plant is also described in the story
form, metabolism can be considered as a continuous (Armstrong & Hughes, 2023) Xeno: The Tale of a Misfit.

Volume 6 Issue 2 (2024) 8 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.1335