Living Future’s annual conference, LF25, ‘Accelerating Regenerative Action’, took place for the 19th time this year.
With over 600 of the brightest minds in regenerative design, sustainability, and architecture coming together in Portland, Oregon, US.
Here are some handpicked highlights of the successful and thought-provoking event:
Opening Day
“Sunny with a Chance of Regeneration” – drawing inspiration from the title of the workshop on the future of the Living Building Challenge with Andrea Cooper-Lazarczyk from Living Future, projects were celebrated around Portland that rose to the challenge — and triumphed.
In celebration, these wonderful buildings were visited by the participants of the conference.
The PAE Living Building
Portland’s first fully certified Living Building (LBC 3.1) blends the look and feel of a historic neighbourhood with the highest possible standards of energy performance and sustainability. Inside, healthy materials meet Red List requirements, while ample daylight, views, operable windows, and other biophilic strategies support occupant health, comfort, and productivity.
Opsis Architecture
The new studio is currently pursuing CORE certification. The tour included a presentation of the Indigenous Traditional Ecological and Cultural Knowledge (ITECK) Centre and Oak Savanna project at Portland State University (PSU), highlighting the Indigenous ecological and design values at the heart of this initiative through storytelling and hands-on demonstrations.
Mahlum Architecture
Mahlum’s previous Portland office was located in a multi-storey unreinforced masonry building with inequitable workspace distribution. One of the most important reasons for the move was to prioritise employee health (daylighting and indoor air quality) and resilience (seismic safety). The new project is Living Building Challenge Petal Certified (LBC 3.1).
Day 2 of LF25
“Do you think of yourself as part of a movement or an industry?” – With these words, Lindsay Baker, CEO of Living Future, opened Day 2 of LF25. “Our goal is an industry shift, not the creation of a niche industry” – participants were welcomed to the vanguard of those accelerating regenerative action, a direction also pursued by Living Future Europe in its 2025–2027 Strategic Plan.
The opening session was followed by speakers and workshops:
Day 2 Morning Plenary with Keynote Speaker David W. Orr
David W. Orr, Professor of Practice at Arizona State University and author of eight books, gave a talk titled after his latest publication, Democracy in a Hotter Time. In it, he calls for the reform of democratic institutions as a prerequisite for avoiding climate chaos and adapting governance to reflect how Earth functions as a physical system. To survive the “long emergency” ahead, we must reform and strengthen democratic institutions, making them assets rather than liabilities.
Creating Transformative Impact with Nature-Based Regenerative Design
A powerful workshop that featured two good friends of the Biophilia Society: Sonja Bochart and Richard Piacentini. This experiential session introduced nature-based regenerative paradigms, integrated into seven LBC projects, to create functional and inspiring places that enhance human and ecological health.
A Climate-Positive Zip Code
The workshop explored how the restorative redevelopment of 10.2 acres in Portland’s historic Lower Albina aims to become a model of district-wide sustainability. In this interactive charrette, participants helped shape the vision by generating bold, climate-positive ideas to be integrated across the site.
Place-Based Restorative Design with the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library
The Library’s climate action plan is rooted in a comprehensive ecological assessment of the site. This baseline supports ambitious ecological restoration, carbon sequestration potential, and a biophilic design framework to ensure nature is meaningfully honoured throughout the design and construction process.
Nature-Positive Strategies at Every Project Scale
This session explored how to apply nature-positive strategies across different project types and scales. It offered a grounded approach to regenerative design, demystifying complexity by drawing on the local ecosystem, habitat, history of place, and other key contextual factors.
Closing Day
Day 3 Morning Plenary with Keynote Speaker Jason MacLennan
“Is the green building movement dead? What didn’t work?” – Nineteen years after the first Living Future conference in Seattle, Jason McLennan provoked the audience of LF25 with this question. Launching a call to action for the building industry and all of us to act for Resistance-Reconciliation-Regeneration, a new movement that must somehow embrace those most resistant, recognising that true regeneration can only be achieved through reconciliation.
LBC leases and turning landlords and tenants into climate allies
A workshop that highlighted how the performance-driven nature of Living Buildings and similar projects presents a unique opportunity to rethink the landlord-tenant relationship as one grounded in collaboration and shared climate and resilience goals.
The House Up On The Hill
Creating a Sense of Belonging: The panel presented how HMTX World HQ, a future Petal-certified Living Building in Norwalk, CT, successfully integrates design within its natural context.
Changemakers Circle
Represented the powerful closing to LF25, celebrating the people, projects and organisations driving regenerative transformation. We were excited to award Alexandros Galatoulas with the Living Future Hero title for his incredible work in promoting the Living Future programmes in Greece, registering and coordinating projects under the Zero Carbon and the Living Building Challenge.
See you next year for the 20th anniversary of Living Future!
