June 10, 2015
According to the UN by 2050 nearly 70% of the world’s population will be living in urban areas, there will be more cities and more mega-cities. As our contact with rural landscapes decreases our alienation from greenery and living elements will increase unless we green the urban environment and the spaces in which we live.…
June 1, 2015
The challenge of biophilic design is to address prevailing deficiencies of contemporary building, landscape and interior architecture by initiating a new framework for the beneficial experience of nature in the built environment (Kellert et al 2008, Kellert 2012, Kellert and Finnegan 2011). Biophilic design is about creating good habitat for people as a biological organism…
May 22, 2015
Educational buildings can vary vastly in scale and capacity; from small village nurseries, through to schools that cater for hundreds of students and universities where the campuses can be like self-contained cities. What they have in common, however, is that each of them contains a combination of students who are there to learn, staff that…
May 21, 2015
This is the third post in an on-going series outlining each of the 14 patterns of biophilic design, a collection of biophilic strategies codified in Terrapin Bright Green’s “14 Patterns of Biophilic Design” paper. Pattern 3: Non-Rhythmic Sensory Stimuli Nature is never static; it’s always moving, growing, adapting. We notice when a room is visually…
May 19, 2015
According to the Institute for Building Efficiency, over 50% of the buildings that will still be in use by 2050 have already been built; and close to ¾ of these buildings are over 20 years old, before the principles of biophilic design were well understood, let alone widely applied. On a similar note, the European…
May 11, 2015
Wander through a major hospital in any modern city and a single visual element is likely to dominate the space: nature art is everywhere! Nature art: Images as representative symbols It’s been over 30 years since Roger Ulrich’s trailblazing study on the effect of window views to nature on patient recovery. His seminal finding that…
April 22, 2015
What’s hot in green building right now? No, global warming isn’t hot, despite growing alarm about extreme weather events. What’s hot is health. Specifically anything related to the potential health impacts of building products. The rise of the WELL Building Standard and the addition of a day-long Materials and Human Health Summit to Greenbuild provide…
April 17, 2015
It is almost impossible to discuss biophilic design in healthcare without mentioning this 1981 seminal study on recovery times during post operative care after gall bladder surgery by professor Roger Ulrich of Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden. This fascinating study investigates whether a view out to nature from their room had any effect on…
April 7, 2015
Did you know, that compared to 1980, we cram in an extra 4.4 hours per day of information consumption outside of work? Think about it. How much time do you spend on your computer or smartphone “Googling” or checking up on one of your favorite friends or actors on Facebook? Our brain is actually wired…
March 27, 2015
Places we naturally love turn out to be good for us! We can now scientifically verify the physiological viability of our designs, by measuring pulse rate, blood pressure, heart rate variability (HRV), electro-dermal response, hormonal & adrenal response, brain wave activity, eye movements & muscle tension. Biochemistry, cell biology, molecular biology & neuroscience have begun…
Oliver Heath 
Dr. Stephen Kellert 
Catie Ryan 
Skye Witherspoon 
Bill Witherspoon 
Mikhail Davis 
Dr. Eva Selhub 
Helena van Vliet