Understanding Biophilic Design
Image: Coalesse
Natural elements have long been a popular feature in architectural and decorative design, from the ancient world up through the arts and crafts and art nouveau movements that lasted through the early part of the 20th century. But as the Second Industrial Revolution drew to a close and technology continued to grow at an incredible rate, popular design began to shift accordingly. Although they never fully went out of vogue, the natural motifs that defined the arts and crafts and art nouveau styles eventually gave way to the geometric, industrial-inspired figures of the art deco, Bauhaus, and modernist movements.
Representations of nature didn’t just begin to vanish figuratively, they also began to disappear literally. As people and businesses flocked toward urban centers, the division between nature and design continued to widen. Green spaces were quickly overtaken by buildings needed to accommodate growing populations and thriving businesses. But as people began spending longer amounts of time indoors, the more isolated they began to feel. Technology and urban living never completely erased the desire to connect to nature and that disconnection made people unhappy, less healthy, and less productive. Biophilic design is a way to help restore balance.
What is Biophilic Design?
Biophilic design is centered around the idea that humans have an innate need to connect with nature. By designing spaces to maximize natural light and include things like live plants, a natural color palette, or items made of natural elements like wood or stone, you’re able to fulfill that need by making indoor spaces feel more natural. Not only do people long to feel connected to the world around them, a growing amount of research shows that feeling connected to nature helps improve physical and mental health, reduces stress, and boosts creativity and productivity. Every year, the average American spends 90% of their time indoors, so biophilic design aims to create a healthier balance.
But biophilic design is more than simply hanging pictures of natural landscapes or putting out some potted plants. It’s important that each of these elements be used in conjunction with others to create a larger experience.
In the article Restoration Office: How Biophilia Reduces Stress and Promotes Renewal at Work, Beatriz Arantes, a senior researcher at Steelcase, explains, “It’s about tricking our brains to feel like we’re in a natural environment, by triggering underlying patterns that we’re programmed to recognize and feel good in.” In a truly natural environment, you’re never going to see just one element of nature isolated by itself. When taken individually, each element is too superficial to make a significant difference in an indoor space. But when combined with other elements, the benefits can be truly remarkable.
Image: Coalesse
The Power of Biophilic Design
When used in the workplace, the benefits of biophilic design can begin before an employee even accepts a job offer. In The Global Impact of Biophilic Design in the Workplace, published by Human Spaces in 2015, 33% of workers said office design would be a factor in their decision whether or not to work at a company.
Much of the research surrounding biophilic design has focused on studying its physiological, psychological, and cognitive benefits. A great deal of existing research strongly supports the theory that a connection to nature can greatly improve health and productivity. Live plants improve indoor air quality by producing oxygen and removing carbon dioxide and toxins such as benzene and formaldehyde from the air. Being able to make a visual connection with nature can lower blood pressure and heart rates and improve mental engagement. Exposure to natural light benefits the body’s circadian systems, helping people sleep better so that they can focus better at work. Listening to sounds of nature helps reduce cognitive fatigue and alleviates the effects of psychological stressors.
Biophilic design in the workplace not only improves employee morale and wellness, it benefits the company as a whole by improving productivity and fostering creative thinking. When employees are healthier, they miss fewer days of work. People naturally want to spend time in spaces that make them feel good, so it makes sense that companies that actively create workplaces that make workers feel good would have higher employee retention rates.
Despite the mounting evidence proving that workplace design is anything but superficial, there’s a major discrepancy between the type of environments people want to work in and the types of environments they actually work in.
In the Human Spaces study, 47% of respondents said their office has no natural light and 19% said no natural elements at all are present in their workplace. 28% said they don’t have a quiet space to work in their office. Approximately two-thirds of respondents said that bright office spaces filled with colors like green, yellow, and blue made them feel happy. In the world of color psychology, colors like green and blue are known for their calming and restorative effects because of their associations with nature. But in this study, white and grey were cited as being the most commonly used colors in the workplace, which are colors that tend to evoke images of places that cannot sustain life.
In the same study, natural light was overwhelmingly cited as being the most desired workplace feature. 44% of respondents said they wanted more natural light in the office, far surpassing the second most popular response of indoor plants, which received just 20% of the responses.
Workplaces aren’t the only types environments to benefit from biophilic design. Research has been done on its benefits in other types of facilities, such as hospitals, schools, and retail establishments. In schools, biophilic design can help students better focus on their work, improving academic performance. Customers shopping in retail stores designed with biophilic principles may subconsciously become more willing to spend more money. A groundbreaking 1981 study by Roger Ulrich of Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden found that hospital patients who have a window in their room were able to recover more quickly and needed less pain medication than patients who don’t.
Image: Coalesse
Creating Biophilic Design
While there are lots of different elements that can be used to create a biophilic design, there are two basic ways it can be used: figuratively or literally.
In the more literal sense, biophilic design can include things like natural light, views of wooded areas or landscapes, aquariums, furniture and fixtures made of natural materials like stone or wood, or live plants. Plants have been a major office design trend in recent years, and it’s a trend Ambius is expecting to continue into 2018. Between living plant walls, green room dividers, and terrariums, workplaces all over the world are fully embracing the benefits plant life can bring. Figurative elements of biophilic design can include things like a color scheme consisting of natural colors, photographs of natural landscapes, or fabrics printed with natural motifs like plants, flowers, or animals.
Terrapin Bright Green has identified 14 patterns of biophilic design. Each pattern has its own distinct benefits and some degree of research exists to support those claims. In their report, they state that while these patterns are supported by science, they are not formulas and are simply meant to inform, guide, and assist in the design process. How you can use these patterns in a space will depend on the space itself, the effect you wish to create, and the needs of the people who will be utilizing the space. But these patterns provide an important starting point to help make the workplace a healthier place to be.
