Research into Ecological Transformation in Architectural Sciences: From Anthropocentric Design to Ecology-Focused Design

Research into Ecological Transformation in Architectural Sciences: From Anthropocentric Design to Ecology-focused Design examines how architecture can respond to ecological crises by reconsidering its ethical foundations, design priorities, material practices, and relationships with living systems. Bringing together theoretical reflection, methodological exploration, and situated architectural inquiry, the volume investigates a transition from human-centred assumptions toward approaches that recognise the interdependence of human wellbeing, ecological integrity, and planetary health.

The book begins by framing planetary design across spatial scales and temporal horizons, revisiting anthropocentrism in architectural theory and exploring the implications of ecocentric thinking. It questions the adequacy of a opposition between anthropocentric and ecocentric positions, considering the ethical challenges of ecological design within building cultures shaped by economic priorities. Planetary health and ecological systems thinking provide complementary perspectives for understanding buildings as participants in interconnected environmental and social processes. The Planetary Design Matrix connects these conceptual discussions with a structured approach to architectural inquiry and practice.

Subsequent contributions examine how ecological transformation intersects with everyday experience, technological mediation, and material decisions. Restorative open spaces in social housing bring questions of human wellbeing into dialogue with broader ecological concerns. An ecocentric perspective on artificial intelligence invites scrutiny of the values and relationships informing its architectural application. Discussions of material health, circular material systems, and embodied practice extend the inquiry across resource flows, material cultures, and the consequences of design decisions over time. The examination of Lina Ghotmeh’s Stone Garden situates these debates within the material and mediated life of a building.

Together, the chapters present ecological transformation as an ongoing reorientation of architectural knowledge and responsibility. The volume offers researchers, educators, students, and practitioners a framework for critically connecting theory and practice, encouraging architectural approaches that situate human needs within the wider conditions sustaining diverse forms of life and shared planetary futures.