@ The offices of TeamPAR, Photographed by Tina Kolodzieski & Madelyn Le Frois
Biophilic Design is an innovative way of designing the places where we live, work, and learn. Sounds so mysterious…. what does it mean? Simply, Biophilic Design is the conduit for satisfying the need for contact with nature in the modern built environment.
Sadly, for most people, 90% of our time is spent indoors in the USA. We sit in artificial light and stare at blue screens. We need fresh air and vitamin D nutrients that the sun provides to us to maintain health — both physically and mentally. Biophilic Design is not “green” or sustainable design (that mainly focuses on reducing environmental damage and protecting resources), but more the reconnection of people with nature in the modern built environment.
Contact with nature has many benefits that have been studied and proven.
- Manufacturing workers are more productive when they move to facilities with natural light and restored landscapes.
- People recover faster from surgery and major illness when they have contact with nature.
- Test scores are higher, better attention skills are realized and less absenteeism occurs in our schools when natural lighting and access to the outdoors is the norm.
Biophilic Design is not one thing — It is a combination of things — both apparent and subtle. Biophilic Design can be accomplished by bringing the forms and patterns of nature into a building.
- Environmental Features: water, sunlight, fire, views of the outdoors, plants and use of natural materials (stone, a tree converted into timber …)
- Natural Shapes: botanical motifs, animal motifs, shells, organic shapes, arches, domes, vaults…
- Natural Patterns: use of patina, scale and ratio of patterns, transitional spaces with sensory variability, use of functional replicas of nests, vines, coral reefs, trees, eggs…
- Light & Space: natural light, filtered and diffused light, light pools, spatial harmony, spaciousness, inside-outside spaces…
Biophilic design can extend beyond individual buildings to entire neighborhoods, where connections to nature can contribute to a higher quality of life. Such a welcoming environment that is arousing nature and utilizing natural materials evokes learning, healing, productive work, and community — whether we consciously realize it, or not.
Our senses are overloaded, and we need to find simple ways to reconnect with nature to quiet our minds and allow our best selves to emerge with creative and productive thoughts. We need to consciously design with nature in mind, to honor and respect the earth and our relationship to it, to make us whole.
Check out the tech giant’s incorporation of Biophilic Design…. They have embraced this needed trend…. Here is hoping you will too!