December 23, 2015
Why do we prefer certain colours to others? Why do some colours make us feel happy and energised while other colours make us feel agitated or sad? The Ecological Valence Theory Object and colour association – a concept that Palmer and Schloss have called the “ecological valence theory” – contribute to our natural colour preferences…
December 15, 2015
What is biophilia? To me, it’s a love and respect for nature. Biophilic design then, is showing that love and respect by preserving and harnessing nature – and working with it. Humans have always lived within nature, but in the developed world buildings and cities have gradually created a barrier between us and the great…
December 14, 2015
Complexity, as one of the more abstract biophilic concepts, has gained quite a bit of traction as a welcomed design challenge. We talk about the objective of the Complexity & Order pattern (#10) as a means for creating a visually nourishing environment, based on an understanding of the symmetries, fractal geometries and spatial hierarchies that…
December 3, 2015
With the success of their recent architectural and interior project – the University of Wollongong Science Teaching Facility – Graham Bell Bowman (GBB) Interior Designer, Rene Deoberitz, reflect on the science of wayfinding, and the importance of flooring within the space. What were the overall design objectives for the Science Teaching Facility at UOW? The…
November 5, 2015
The accommodation we choose when travelling is an important aspect of the whole experience and should naturally be somewhere that will aide our path to decompressing the stress of our everyday lives, whilst aiding relaxation and calm. We’ve picked out three contrasting examples of hotels that daydreams are made of; that embody biophilic principles to…
October 19, 2015
When we think of biophilic design, we think of nature. Its primary intention to reintroduce nature into our built environments. Yet much of the project and literature focus of biophilic design has been on interior environments. What about applications of biophilic design to the external built environment? There is a noticeable bias towards architecture and…
September 30, 2015
How can we design the mindful office? What would a mindful office look and feel like? An introduction to mindfulness We live and work in a world full of distracting pollution. With increased digital connectivity through access to emails, social media, the web’s encyclopedic repository of information and all the other distractions that are commonplace…
September 25, 2015
In my earlier article I outlined the benefit of biophilic design in educational settings and showed you a lovely example of St Mary’s infant school designed by Jessop & Cook imbued with biophilic principles. Further research shows that optimising exposure to daylight alone can improve school attendance by an average of 3.5 days/year and test…
September 9, 2015
In the majority of cases a workers environment, usually an office, is not catered towards maximising their potential health and well-being. This must change. The World Health Organization describes wellness as “…a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.“. Do most desk workers fall into…
August 6, 2015
The recent developments of ARTSPACE Sydney and BOOM Gallery Melbourne are two local projects exploring how design could impact on the behaviour of people within a space. Cultural buildings are some of our most important public spaces. As Ashley Dunn of Dunn & Hillam notes, “These are the spaces where we challenge who we are,…
As a leading figure in biophilic design, Oliver is working with global modular flooring manufacturer Interface to raise the awareness of the benefits of design inspired by nature. A prominent thinker in the architecture industry and owner of Heath Design Ltd, Oliver is also a writer and TV presenter.
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Richard Hassel 
Catie Ryan 
Interface 
Joe Clancy