Helena van Vliet AIA is a Biophilic Architect, Researcher & Speaker on Health and the Built Environment. She is Principal in charge at Helena van Vliet LLC. www.helenavanvliet.com
Born and raised in Germany Helena holds an undergraduate degree in Architecture from the RwtH in Germany, as well as an M Arch from the University of Pennsylvania. She is licensed in the U.S. as well as in Germany.
Helena considers Architecture a Health Care Profession, and has made the creation of spaces, which foster positive emotional connection to place her primary area of exploration. She views human attachment to and caring for place as essential for true sustainability as well as for physiological well-being.
Helena is a biophilic consultant and facilitates biophilic design workshops and design charrettes. She is a regular contributor at the biophilic design hub Human Spaces, and a steering committee member for the Biophilic Cities Network.
Locally, she is the founder of bioPhilly, a grass roots organization, which seeks to promote wild habitat biodiversity in urban Philadelphia.
Helena is a guest speaker at various universities on the connection between architecture and health.
As adjunct faculty, she teaches Biophilic Design at Pratt Institute & advises graduate and PhD students at Philadelphia University, as well as nationally and internationally, on thesis projects in biophilic sustainable design and biophilic urbanism.
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…