Biophilic Design

July 30, 2018

Using Biophilia to Design a Better Learning Environment

Situated in the heart of the Forest of Dean, St. White’s Primary School wanted to draw on the surrounding landscape to create a nature-infused space that would reconnect students with the outdoors. The new building combines outdoor play areas and forest views with nature-inspired fixtures and fittings. There are proven benefits to incorporating nature-inspired –…

June 22, 2018

Biophilic Design in Urban Architecture: The Oasia Hotel in Singapore

The Oasia Hotel Downtown, designed by Woha, a Singapore-based architectural firm, is one of the most stunning skyscrapers in Asia. There is, first, the signal-red mesh envelope, a splash of color unlike anything in its neighborhood, and then the surreptitious patches of green that seem to slowly envelop the building. Planted façades are not new…

May 9, 2018

Paramit Factory: A Case Study in Industrial Biophilic Design

The Paramit Factory by Design Unit Sdn. Bhd., Malaysia, challenges the industrial typology that is too often mired in questions of functionality and cost. John Bulcock, the principal architect, is best known for tropical houses, noteworthy for unfinished concrete walls and playful inventiveness with climate. Daylight, greenery and vistas were key considerations from the start.…

May 4, 2018

CBRE Madrid: The Benefits of WELL Building in Practice

In 2013, the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) launched a movement to address issues regarding health and well-being within the built environment. From this, the WELL Building Standard was established with the aim to provide architects and designers with guidelines on how to make a real and measurable difference to how we function within our…

March 14, 2018

How Perceived Open Space Can Benefit Our Well-being

In the last few years, neuroscientists have come to a remarkable conclusion: the quantity and quality of open space around us—whether it’s rows of cubicles in a an open floor matrix, four walls in a classroom with a view of the next building, or a windowless treatment area—is responsible for increasing the cognitive load on…

March 1, 2018

Neighborhoods: The New Workspace

To support employee engagement, architects and designers are fashioning visually identifiable collision points within office spaces. These collision points encourage employees to share ideas, collaborate and meet, mirroring the behaviors of their home neighborhoods. Recent research from Steelcase further examines the correlation between employee engagement and workplace satisfaction. The report notes that workers who are…

October 10, 2017

Creating Biophilic Buildings

What if we could experience the same physical, psychological, and emotional benefits moving through an urban landscape that we experienced walking through a forest? What if we could right our relationship with nature by transforming the built environment in a way that buildings functioned in harmony with the natural world? This opportunity lies in the…

September 22, 2017

Using the BRE Biophilic Office Project to Study the Benefits of Biophilic Design

Biophilic Design as a key aspect of health and wellbeing is moving up the built environment agenda fast – and for good reason. With high rates of urbanisation, a rise in stress related illness and an increasing level of technological proliferation – it seems that we are moving ever further from the natural elements that…