How Biophilic Design Can Improve Your Well-Being

When people are in biophilicly designed spaces, they feel comfortable; their well-being and mental performance are both higher than when they’re in a place that’s not biophilicly designed.

Biophilicly designed spaces replicate (at least conceptually) the features of the sorts of places where our species thrived when it was young and first taking its current form. These are spaces where, for example:

• Natural light is plentiful during the day, and warmer, dimmer light prevails during the night. When natural light is just not an option or needs to be supplemented, circadian lighting is installed.
• There is an indoor plant in each view across the space (not more because of visual clutter issues; see the next point).
• A moderate amount of visual “stuff” is happening in the space; it is not visually cluttered or stark (too little to see stresses us just as much as too much). The number of colors, shapes, and patterns in view factor into the amount of visual complexity present in a space, and so does the apparent order underlying the use of those colors, etc. For user comfort and well-being, the goal is a space with medium levels of visual complexity, like a residential interior designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.
• In temperate zones, windows can be opened to let in fresh air.
• Curved lines (in two dimensions) and shapes (in three dimensions) prevail.
• Natural materials, such as wood with visible grain, are in use. Materials that develop a patina (such as copper) or show gentle signs of wear (as leather can) are biophilic design staples.
• Some water is present, either in a brook seen through a window, or an aquarium, or a desktop fountain—in any case, the water needs to be “friendly”—no torrential downpours reminiscent of hurricanes, etc. A controlled fire (for example, one in a fireplace) influences what goes on in our heads just as a water feature does.
• Nature sounds, similar to those found in a meadow on a lovely spring day (such as burbling brooks, gently rustling leaves and grasses, and quietly singing songbirds), are present.
• Some seats feel secure (because, for example, there’s a tall plant behind them, so no one might sneak up from the rear) and have a view out over the nearby world.
• Curving paths flow through the space; it’s not laid out in a grid so reminiscent of military camps that it would make Napoleon proud.

Terrapin Bright Green, a sustainability consulting firm, has revised its often-quoted Economics of Biophilia (originally published in 2012; see reference section) to offer some answers. In it, authors Ryan, Browning, and Walker analyze material related to biophilic design at offices, schools or universities, retail settings, hospitality venues, healthcare facilities, and community spaces.

The authors share that their “publication argues in favor of biophilic design by examining scientific studies on the effects of nature-based experiences on human productivity, preferences, and attention... The aim of this research summary is to show the economic value of offering biophilic experiences, not as a luxury but as an investment opportunity with calculable returns.” Both financial and health-related implications of biophilic design are reviewed.