Biophilic design is a concept that is used in interior and building design to increase occupant connectivity to the natural environment through the use of direct and indirect nature, space, and place conditions. It is argued that this concept has health, environmental and economic benefits for building occupants with few drawbacks. Designing spaces through this concept can be done through direct and indirected experience of nature. In #Studiomatic, my artistic space company, it's a big composant of our design and #UX strategy. Thanks to biophilic design, people feel better in our space and so stay longer in their membership subscription, hence increasing our CLTV (client lifetime value). It also depicts a concurential advantage in our sector, where every competitor are just buying the cheapest materials in order to save money and make the price war. From our point of view, biophilic design is a real investment. ## Direct experience of nature - **Light**: providing natural light in a space will provide orientation of time of day and season as well as movements and shadows. - **Air**: ventilation, temperature and humidity are felt through air. The ability to control the air and provide fresh air in a building promote great confort to occupants. - **Water**: water, in form of fountains, wetlands and aquarium, could decrease stress and increase health, performance and overall satisfaction. People often have a great connection with water because it is multi-sensorial. - **Plants**: just like water, plants have been proved to increase physical health, performance, and productivity. We should add plants in abundance through green walls, potted plants, flowers etc. - **Animals**: they promote interest and mental stimulation. This can be done through aquariums, bird feeders on window borders. - **Weather**: can be observed through the windows and transitional spaces. - **Natural landscapes**: can be done through windows that overlooks a garden or an horizon - **Fire**: it adds color and warmness. The easiest way to achieve this could be with a fireplace, but it's hard to achieve on building with fire restrictions. ## Indirect experience of nature - **Images of nature**: this could be done through various artworks, mostly paintings. Using images of natures, animals, landscapes, organic food... - **Natural materials**: wood, wicker, wool, stone. Don't use leather, as it is animal based and in conflict with the biophilic design philosophy. - **Natural colors**: colors we find in nature: various shades of yellow/orange that symbolize light, shades of blue for water and sky, shades of green for plants, shades of brown for earth, wood and skin color, shades of grey for stone... - **Simulations of natural light and air**: using various lights and creative usages as well as mechanical way to change and adapt the ventilation. Light can be enhanced using reflective materials such as mirror, polished metal or gloshed wood. - **Naturalistic shapes**: columns, tissues, sand, fractals, elipses, rounded elements - **Evoking nature**: this can be done by mimicking animals, different plant height like forest, water or plant features - **Information richness**: complex environments that invoke curiosity and thought. Environments are filled with abiotic (non living elements: earth, water...) and biotic (living elements: animals, insects, plants...) elements. - **Change and the patina of time**: nature change, adapt and ages over time. We could use organic materials that are susceptible to weathering and color change. - **Natural geometries**: usage of repetitive pattern and fractals. - **Biomimicry**: emulation of the models, systems and elements of nature for the purpose of solving complex human problems. ## References - [Biophilic design - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biophilic_design) - [14 patterns of biophilic design - Terrapin Bright Green](https://www.terrapinbrightgreen.com/reports/14-patterns/) - [The economic advantages of biophilia in sectors of society - Terrapin Bright Green](https://www.terrapinbrightgreen.com/report/economics-of-biophilia/) - [Biophilic Design, the theory, science and practice of bringing buildings to life - Terrapin Bright Green](https://www.terrapinbrightgreen.com/report/biophilic-design/) - [3 simple ways to design a biophilic home - Medium](https://medium.com/@seembu/3-simple-ways-to-design-a-biophilic-home-7e93fafdb0c2)