Biophilia is humankind’s instinctive biological connection with nature. We are just beginning to find that environmentally impoverished habitats foster fatigue, symptoms of disease, and impaired performance. It is now known that the simple introduction of natural lighting, outside views, and vegetation can result in enhanced health and productivity. Biophilic design connects humans to nature (even when they are in man-made environments), to nurture health and well-being.
Using biophilic design principles to connect humans to the earth’s natural elements is not an aesthetic extravagance, but an imperative strategy to improve human health, environmental resilience, and the bottom line.
Healthcare designers can use biophilic design principles to deliver projects that will make patients feel more comfortable, feel less anxious, and work with mind, body and spirit to promote healing. And it doesn’t end with the patients; healthcare employees work long hours and connections to nature in the built environment contribute to higher levels of worker satisfaction, well being, and productivity.
More and more offices are beginning to blur the lines between interior and exterior spaces. Interaction with the nature within the office increases workers’ quality of life and productivity, while decreasing dissatisfaction, stress and absenteeism.
In schools, natural spaces and materials help to stimulate children’s imaginations and serve as the medium for inventiveness and creativity. Additional benefits include enhanced creativity, improved cognitive function and productivity, enriched clarity of thought, reduced boredom, stress and aggression.
Design that reconnects people with nature does not just improve the habitability of spaces; it transforms them into rejuvenating, inspiring places that lead to increased health, productivity, and healing for all. And this translates into financial savings, as well as a heightened connection to natural systems that in turn can lead to increased environmental awareness. Biophilic design should be a core strategy for any designer endeavoring to make people — and the planet — healthy, happy and whole.
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