THE FUTURE OF THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT

Four industry experts discussed how we can retrofit our homes, apartments and offices to save and generate electricity and become more resilient in the face of rising energy bills and extreme weather caused by climate change.

Professional moderator Beata Wickbom began the talk by introducing the four panelists. Maria Axelsson is the co-founder of architectural office Axeloth which specializes in sustainable housing, urban planning solutions and circular design. Examples of her work included a housing project built of solid wood in Uppsala and rooftop gardens with outdoor kitchens.

The second panelist was Erik Olsson, head of corporate development at Midsummer, the only Swedish manufacturer of solar cell roof tiles which are in huge demand and the most sustainable solar panels in the world.

Tove Chevalley was Head of the Electrolux Innovation Hub before setting up sustainable transformation and innovation consultancy Kaizen Studio. She worked on a project examining kitchen design which uses data to nudge consumers to cook more sustainably and eat more plant-based meals.

The fourth panelist was David Schill, Marketing Director of Aritco Lift who explained that its HomeLifts can help consumers stay in their houses for longer.

The panelists agreed that short-term and long-term targets were critical to future-proof buildings. Every aspect of any building will need to be designed for the long-term with flexibility in mind. To keep carbon footprints down, products like solar panels and home lifts will need to rely on local supply chains and we will need look to the creative industries to come up with new innovations to support a very different, low-carbon future.

In an age of urban densification, even cities in cool climates like Stockholm will need to accelerate greening to combat over-heating. Individual homes will need to generate and save their own energy and new systems will need be designed to manage water and electricity effortlessly.

Beata Wickbom asked the panelists how the built environment will have changed in 25 years’ time. The panel envisioned a future with clustered, localized communities that don’t rely on centralized services and that share physical and virtual resources. Energy will hopefully be abundant, low-cost and fossil-free, and more food will be grown in cities. Innovation will focus increasingly on circularity and upcycling, storing energy and recycling clean water. Technology will increasingly look to nature for design solutions, signaling a rise in the embryonic trend of biomimicry.

You can watch the entire talk on Aritco’s YouTube channel here.