Biophilic Design
Biophilic Design…what is it?
Biophilia | bio·phil·ia | \ˌbī-ō-ˈfi-lē-ə |: Love of life and/or living systems.
Who among us doesn’t enjoy a saunter in the deep woods or, at least, in a park, meadow or other easily-accessed greenspace? More to the point, how do these experiences make us feel? Does even thirty minutes of calming respite in a natural place elevate your mood, especially when accompanied by the visual and/or auditory presence of wildlife?
Well, simply put, therein lies the answer - - design that elevates mood and sense of well-being. Design with Nature.
Seemingly esoteric and even “a little weird” as one architect put it, the term ‘biophilia’ was first coined by social psychologist Eric Fromm (The Heart of Man, 1964) and popularized some 20 years later by biologist Edward O. Wilson in his landmark book, Biophilia. The various denotations – which have evolved from within the fields biology and psychology, and have been adapted to the fields of neuroscience, endocrinology, architecture and beyond – all relate back to the desire for a (re)connection with nature and natural systems. That we should be genetically predisposed to prefer certain types of nature and natural scenery - specifically the savanna - was posited by Gordon Orians and Judith Heerwagen (Savanna Hypothesis, 1986), and could theoretically be a contributing motivation for moving to the suburbs, with the suburban lawn as everyone’s “savanna”. Wilson’s work focused on what he believed is our innate affinity for the natural world; he examined how our tendency to focus on life and lifelike processes might be a biologically based need, integral to our development as individuals and as a species. Sometimes referred to as the “biophilia hypothesis”, the benefits of biophilic design are currently still mostly observed through what some refer to as “translational science”…that is, researchers observe people having an experience of nature, find out what were the causal agents of that experience, and if it resulted in a shift in psychology or physiology, particularly the parasympathetic nervous system. These myriad studies that have all but fully substantiated its truth also offer a powerful argument for the conservation of biological diversity. More importantly, it implies serious consequences for our well-being as society becomes further estranged from the natural world. Relentless environmental destruction could have a significant impact on our quality of life, not just materially but psychologically and even spiritually.
Maya Angelou famously offered, “Do the best you can until you know better…then when you know better, do better”. Her wisdom applies to all walks of life of course, but how do we translate what is essentially a golden rule of design into principles that enhance the built environment — and by extension, our everyday lives?
For over three decades, I have practiced ecologically mindful design…the latter two-thirds of which – with credit to the seminal experience of a post-lecture discussion with E.O. Wilson himself — have been increasingly devoted to biophilic design as the basis of my methodology. Furthermore, as Wilson encouraged, this approach to design can and should also be restorative…as we continue to lose habitat in the name of this and all manner of development, I personally feel obligated to designing forms of atonement for those impacts into my projects. As such, I’ve been disposed to integrating living systems into buildings — vegetated rooftops, living walls (both exterior & interior), abundant daylight, natural materials, nature-inspired geometries and native landscapes…as well as solar energy, which I consider integral to the biophilic agenda. In fact, my initial investment and involvement solar development in one form or another was born of mitigating devastation of mountain landscapes and waterways across Appalachia, which have long suffered our insatiable appetite for coal to power our lives.
But biophilic design isn’t simply a matter of incorporating plants in, on and around buildings, it’s also about making those places welcoming and friendly to other living beings — with intention and understanding of what makes it conducive…from beneficial plants intended to attract biological activity to bird-safe building. And considering that most of us spend anywhere from 70-90% of our time indoors, one can appreciate that it is in fact the built environment that should be the focus of elevating the human-nature connection — that is, the application of biophilic thinking.
A prime example is Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater (my original inspiration to become an architect) and arguably the first biophilic building in at least this country, if not the world. Cantilevered about a waterfall in the Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania, this masterwork exemplifies the ever popular notion of fostering “connections to nature” and is utterly sublime in its ‘oneness’ with its site - - it could simply not be anywhere else on Earth - - a truly spiritual experience of place, organic architecture par excellence. For the very reasons it has awed so many millions of visitors, it has become emblematic within the biophilic design movement, the ultimate manifestation of a Wright mantra, “study nature, love nature, stay close to nature, it will never fail you…”…clearly, well before there was even a word for it, he was a leader among the many before us who understood the power of biophilia and that it must be at the heart of this work. And they say the “proof is in the pudding”…one of his clients, Liliane Kaufman, after living in the home for just few years, jotted in her diary: “there must be something about close contact with nature, which helps to heal everything…”. The year was 1941…
