Whether you’ve been planning to design your dream home for months or years, you likely have a plethora of ideas that will make it stand out from any other home around it. Your unique design ideas relate to both the inside and outside of the house. While some neighborhoods have an HOA that may dictate siding types of paint colors for the outside, the landscaping and the home’s interior are your playground.
We at Acipe Design know it’s important to love where you live, and even more important when you plan for your custom home to be your Forever Home.
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What is Biophilic Design?
Biophilic design is a design based on the scientific hypothesis of biophilia. The biophilia hypothesis (BET) poses the suggestion that humans possess an innate tendency to seek out connections with nature and life forms other than humans. Biophilia was defined in Edward O. Wilson introduced and subsequently popularized the hypothesis in his 1984 book, Biophilia. The word is defined there as “the urge to affiliate with other forms of life.” The book builds on work by psychologist Erich Fromm in 1964.
Biophilic design uses this hypothesis to incorporate natural elements into the spaces we inhabit. The design theory can be applied to living rooms, bedrooms, and even office spaces and schools – wherever we spend our time. Adding biophilic design elements can also add a calming and soothing effect, much like the effect some people feel when spending time outdoors in nature.
How to Implement Biophilic Design
Unlike minimalism, modern design, contemporary, mid-century, and other design styles, biophilic design is a theory more than a specific style. The aforementioned styles may have elements of biophilic design, making biophilic design its own philosophy.
Architects and designers have a number of tools to implement biophilic designs into homes, offices, retail spaces, and more.
Natural Lighting
You can achieve biophilic design simply by opening up your curtains or shades and letting the sunlight in. Allowing the natural light of the sun to fill a room not only offers light, but the warmth of the sun as well. Sitting in the sun is often more relaxing than sitting next to a lamp, although both provide light. Animals shows their affinity for natural light as well. Homeowners with pets like cats or dogs will often find their furry family members snoozing on the floor where a shaft of sunlight beats down.
When you consult with Acipe Design to build your custom home, we can show you a number of ways to include natural light in your build, no matter where your property is located. Large windows, sliding glass doors, skylights, and sun tunnels are just a few things at our design disposal.
Indoor/Outdoor Living
No matter what climate your home is located in, a spot for indoor/outdoor living is a necessity. Even if it’s the small patio or balcony of your apartment, having a space outside where you can spend time in natural light and fresh air is a lift to the senses and mood.
When building your custom home, consider patios, decks, balconies, outdoor kitchens, and other outdoor living spaces. We can show you a number of designs using natural building materials like stone and wood. Additionally, we can show you home features like sliding glass doors and walls of windows which slide open and closed for a true sense of indoor/outdoor living.
House Plants
If you have a green thumb and a need for biophilic design in your next home build, consider adding a number of house plants in various rooms and areas. Potted plants, flowers, and small trees truly bring the outdoors in. If you don’t have the time and dedication to keep a living plant alive, studies have shown that even artificial greenery and plants can positively impact mood. Just the thought of being close to the natural environment is enough to bring peace and tranquility.
Water Features
Many homeowners and designers may save the water feature for the garden. The peace and tranquility that the sound of running water brings is a great reason to add a water feature to your front entrance, living room, or even your bedroom. Water features come in simple waterfalls,
Natural Materials
One more step, although not necessarily the last, to bring biophilic design into your home is with the use of natural materials. Building materials, furniture, and accessories made of natural materials like stone and wood. Their connection with the natural world encourage a much calmer environment than one filled with objects made of plastic and other synthetic materials.
If you don’t have access to such natural materials, choosing décor in natural, earthy colors can produce a similar feeling and still bring elements of biophilic design into your space.
Benefits of Biophilic Design
Enhanced Mental Health & Well-Being
For decades, architects and designers have been asked to create spaces that enhance the user’s mental health and well-being. Biophilic design helps us do that. Simply by adding the elements of biophilic design: natural light, greenery, water features, and neutral tones, has been linked to increased mood and cognitive function while relieving stress. In short, bringing the outdoors in is a simple way to create environments that promote a sense of calm and tranquility.
Another aspect of biophilic design that enhances mental health and well-being, as well as overall health, is the aspect of focusing on better ventilation for the built environment. Architects and designers work to include elements that increase ventilation and introduce more fresh air to indoor spaces, leading to a healthier environment.
The effects of biophilic designs stimulate our brains long before it’s ever added to our built environments. A variety of studies have shown that even viewing images of natural scenes can have stress-reducing results. Bringing those images into our world through built environment design in turn will contribute to a constant feeling of reduced stress.
Increased Productivity & Creativity
Personally, I do my best writing staring at a blank white wall. It allows me to imagine whatever I want, without the noise of pattern or color. It doesn’t seem to matter to me what the materials or design are, I just prefer the neutral.
Personal preferences aside, biophilic design has been shown to boost both creativity and cognitive performance. Studies have shown that by simply introducing plants into an otherwise barren office environment had a double-digit increase in employee productivity. The natural elements of biophilic design – like greenery and natural light – stimulates the brain in a way other materials can’t, showing and improvement in concentration a fostering of a more conducive environment for problem-solving and creative thinking, leading to better overall productivity.
You may see your productivity and creativity soar in your home office, just by adding a few natural elements!
Stress Reduction & Improved Cognitive Function
A continuous theme throughout this article has been on biophilic design’s ability to reduce stress levels and the reduced stress’s contribution to better mental health. Cortisol, a hormone release in response to stress, is tamped down by a simple exposure to a natural environment. That’s why many people who spend time in nature – hiking, biking, walking outside, camping, and a plethora of other outdoor activities – enjoy a state of calm doing those activities as opposed to when they’re working in a sterile office environment. By incorporating the outside environment that stimulates happiness into an indoor space provides inhabitants with ongoing opportunities, not just activities in their spare time, for visual, tactile, and sensory engagement with that environment. The result: a calming effect.
Biophilic design is also closely linked to cognitive function. One Harvard University study found occupants of green-certified buildings scored higher on cognitive function tests than their counterparts in non-certified buildings. When the nature-inspired design elements of biophilic design – natural materials with natural textures, natural light, and views of green spaces – were introduced, the elements had a positive influence on the cognitive performance of those in the newly designed environment.
Physical Health Benefits
Mental health and well-being are just two elements of overall health. We don’t want to neglect the physical health benefits of biophilic design. Access to biophilic design elements like natural light and materials, has previously been associated with physical health benefits including improved sleep patterns, faster patient recovery in healthcare settings, and a significant reduction in the symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD.
In fact, incorporating biophilic design elements into healthcare facilities has become an increasingly popular trend. These facilities have recognized the potential of the design to assist in the healing process while in medical facilities. Views of nature, access to outdoor spaces, as well as the use of natural materials in built environments create an aesthetically pleasing environment which also supports the overall health and well-being of both patients and the healthcare professionals in the building on a daily basis.
Biophilic Design Working Hand-in-Hand: Sustainability & Environmental Stewardship
Biophilic design goes hand-in-hand with sustainability and environmental stewardship. Biophilic design’s standard of connecting with nature through incorporating natural elements in the built environment fosters the development of heightened awareness of a person’s impact on their surroundings. This can lead to a greater appreciation for sustainable practices and influence people to commit to preserving the natural world.
Other elements of sustainability, including energy-efficient systems and environmentally-conscious design principles are integral pieces of biophilic design, and the holistic approach benefits both human well-being and contributes to creating environmentally responsible and resilient communities in the process.
Connecting the Urban Environment to Nature
As cities continue to grow and urbanization continues to shape our living environments, introducing biophilic design to the built environment has become a necessity. Residents of urban areas don’t always have easy access to natural elements.
Through thoughtful implementation of biophilic design in urban centers. The addition of public green spaces like parks, green facades, rooftop gardens give urban residents the chance to connect with nature and experience its restorative effects. For these reasons, architects, urban planners, and designers are increasing the incorporation of biophilic principles into their design ideas to create sustainable, healthy, and aesthetically pleasing urban spaces.
Increased Community & Social Interaction
Just as biophilic design can connect urban environments to natural elements, it also has shown to have the potential to strengthen community bonds and promote increased social interaction. Areas like shared green spaces, community gardens, and other nature-inspired gathering areas encourage residents to gather together to experience the space together, thus fostering a larger sense of community and connection. Extending biophilic design elements into other shared spaces like workplaces and educational institutions can also enhance collaboration and communication among individuals in those types of spaces.
Well-designed environments, no matter their use, that reflect the natural patterns and materials found in biophilic design creates a welcoming and inclusive atmosphere for positive social interactions among inhabitants.
Final Thoughts
We at Acipe Design know everyone has their own personality, desires, and needs. When you consult with us on your custom home build, we can help you navigate design theories and ideas to choose and implement the ones you’d like to see in your home.
The staff at Acipe Design has years experience with the employment of biophilic design. Ask us about how we can help you blend the natural and built environment in your next home, using the natural environment to lead the built environment and blend it seamlessly into your dream home.
Contact us today!