Architecture between ecology and the market: the Homeworld, Energy World and Futureworld exhibits in Milton Keynes

This article explores the ecological architecture showcased in three exhibitions in Milton Keynes: ‘Homeworld ‘81’ (1981), ‘Energy World’ (1986), and ‘Future World’ (1994). Drawing on archival documents, press reviews, post-occupancy evaluations, and interviews with key participants, it offers a multilayered historical assessment of these buildings and their socio-political context. The three exhibitions displayed houses, many of them with conspicuously postmodern, neo-historical, and neo-vernacular forms, which at the same time responded to the two most important and yet somewhat contradictory themes — on the one hand, an increasing concern with energy saving and environmentally friendly construction, and, on the other, a move towards privatisation and market-oriented housing provision. Reflecting the spirit of both environmentalism and neoliberalism, the exhibitions promoted low-energy and non-toxic construction along with entrepreneurialism and market-oriented policies. The article shows why the attempt to marry ecology and economy proved unsuccessful in the long run. To a certain extent, it failed due to the inherent contradiction between resource-saving environmentalism and growth-oriented market economics, but even more so because falling prices for oil and gas from the mid-1980s onwards made energy saving economically unattractive. The article also demonstrates that the three exhibits nonetheless generated an influential legacy, including postmodern or neo-vernacular design innovations and ‘green’ technological features that soon became widespread. They also facilitated the development of a new metrics for sustainability, the Milton Keynes Energy Cost Index (MKECI), which in a different form is used to date. Finally, comparing ecological metrics in the long run for different buildings in and around the Energyworld exhibit, the article shows that certain ecological design features did not necessarily translate into high environmental or energy-saving performance.