Partnership with Buckminster Fuller Institute Design Lab

This collaboration blends Except's pioneering systemic sustainability solutions with BFI’s legacy of forward-thinking, whole-systems design, deeply inspired by the visionary work of Buckminster Fuller.

A Shared Vision for Regenerative Futures

Except's decades of work is closely aligned with Buckminster Fuller’s philosophy of Comprehensive Anticipatory Design Science— an approach to solving humanity’s most pressing challenges through whole-systems thinking.

Except launched the innovation projects Symoto and Orchid City as a way to increase global impact through innovation. Like Fuller’s “World Game” scenarios, Symoto aims to provide deep, real-time insights into complex urban and environmental systems, enabling decision-makers to model, simulate, and optimize resource flows in ways that have never been possible before. And like Fuller's visionary ideas on a harmonious and self sufficient society, Orchid City brings whole systems thinking to realistic, affordable models of regenerative and net-positive urban environments.

“This partnership is the perfect marriage of Buckminster Fuller’s transformative vision and Except’s relentless pursuit of systemic innovation,” says Tom Bosschaert, Founder and Director of Except. “Symoto will serve as a critical tool for addressing global challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and urban resilience, and serve as a stepping stone towards realizing Orchid City.”

Symoto: A New Era of Integrated Sustainability Tools

At the core of the BFI Design Lab's projects is a commitment to regenerative transformation. As such, Symoto is a perfect fit. The platform allows stakeholders in sustainable development—ranging from city planners to industry leaders—to map, model, and manage energy and material flows, and simulate the environmental impacts of their projects. Its real-time data processing, robust scenario modeling, and cloud-based architecture foster collaborative decision-making, significantly accelerating the transition towards circular economies and resource-efficient urban environments.

Symoto will play a critical role in Except's Orchid City, a visionary fully sustainable and regenerative urban development project. Symoto will act as the digital backbone, creating a comprehensive digital twin of the city, monitoring and optimizing complex systems such as energy, waste, and water management, ensuring maximum efficiency and minimal environmental impact. Orchid City sets a global benchmark for cities of the future, powered by cutting-edge tools like Symoto.

A Partnership Built on Shared History and Vision

For over 40 years, BFI has served as a global hub for innovators, architects, designers, and scientists, building on Buckminster Fuller’s life’s work in sustainability, design, and societal transformation.

Fuller’s insistence on thinking across disciplines has been a guiding light for Except’s own integrated sustainability framework, Symbiosis in Development (SiD), which connects social, environmental, and business intelligence to craft long-term solutions to the world’s most intricate challenges​​.

"Symoto modeling software and Orchid City neighborhood and city design tools will help power site to bioregional scale visualization, simulation, and regenerative development." says dr. Stuart Cowan, BFI's Executive Director. "I'm delighted to be working with Tom Bosschaert and his amazing team at Except Integrated Sustainability."

Towards a Future-Proof World

Through this partnership, Except and BFI are opening new pathways for collaboration and innovation, catalyzing transformative projects across urban development, circular economy, and beyond. Together, the two organizations are building a powerhouse of transformative power in a world increasingly in need of global, transformative thought married with on the ground action.

For more information: the Buckminster Fuller Institute, Symoto, Orchid City and the project portfolio of Except Integrated Sustainability.