Episodes
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Did you know for every £1 you spend on even simple Biophilic Design enhancements, you could get £2.70 back? So reveals the new research conducted by Joyce Chan Shoof Architect and Sustainability Lead at the UK Parliament.
Using a scientific approach with control environments, adding biophilic design elements to test the effect and then removing them to further test the effect of their absence, Joyce explains the rigorous approach she took over a seven-year period to arrive at her conclusion.
This is a phenomenal breakthrough for those of us working in Biophilic Design.
You can read the whole report here: https://plplabs.com/reap-what-you-sow-2/
And come and see Joyce present the research in person at Workplace Trends in London on the 18th April 2024 https://workplacetrends.co/events/wtrs24-prog/
We often have struggled trying to articulate the economic benefits of Biophilic Design, this research can be used to support arguments why businesses need it in the workplace.
Joyce has also developed a framework to help designers work out what we need and the impact it will have. Using existing frameworks, like the Flourish model (as advocated by Professor Derek Clements Croome) and others, she has woven a great new model we can all hang our designs on.
From a career as a practicing architect, Joyce explains that transferring to the client side within the Parliamentary Estate has been transformational in the way she sees building design from feasibility study through to construction. The change and the opportunity it gave her has inspired her to incorporate multidisciplinary approaches and to study the impact of taking a biophilic design on efficiency, productivity and well-being within the workplace.
Just like Goldilocks and the Three Bears, one interesting outcome that she highlights during the podcast, the study concludes that an immersive approach to incorporating Biophilic Design in the workplace is less effective overall than a more measured approach. But she explains that the immersive effect was preferred by people. The results showed that the moderate Biophilic Design intervention (that which we could normally advocate) seems to be the best.
Joyce sees academic rigour as an important part of her role when leading a complex development. Since 2017, she has been conducting this doctoral research with the Design School at Loughborough University, focused on Sustainable Well-being in the workplace with a particular interest in biophilic and social value. She is a keen advocate of how Architects can make positive impacts towards allowing people to live happier and healthier. Her team sits within the Design Authority who are a group of design professionals and specialists who are managing the estate in Westminster, and their objective is to inject new thinking into the adaptive use of new and heritage buildings within the Parliamentary Estate – a UNESCO site.
Parliament’s vision is amibitious; it aims to set an example to lead the early adoption of Zero Carbon (Scope 1, 2 & 3), Healthy Buildings, Social Value and Circular Economy through our own refurbishment projects and procurement. The team manages the design, construction and operations of the Parliamentary Estate of 20 buildings including the Palace of Westminster.
Joyce discusses her study of the economic benefits of incorporating a biophilic design approach to workspace and gives many insights into her approach and into how she found a way of attributing economic value to the benefits.
Her wish is that we reconnect with nature, the sources of food, the feeling of being part of nature rather than living lives that separate us from the natural world. She wishes that all of us benefit from an improved environment, and her research is a massive and welcome step in that direction.
To register for Workplace Trends and meet Joyce in person on the 18th of April 2024: https://workplacetrends.co/events/wtrs24-prog/
Reap What You Sow: What’s the value (£) of Biophilic Design? (14.40)
– Joyce Chan-Schoof (RIBA), PhD Research Researcher, Loughborough University and Sustainability Lead, UK ParliamentGiven employees are the largest cost for a business, to what extent can biophilic design save companies money by ensuring that staff are healthier and happier at work? We explore these questions by delving into the monetary benefits of biophilic design. This presentation presents new ways to capture the tangible well-being and environmental values of connecting with nature in the workplace. This project is part of a doctoral research project at Loughborough University in collaboration with PLP Architects, Benholm and Reading University. Joyce’s research is funded by the Design Star (AHRC), and the BCO sponsored the pilot study.
Read more and follow up on the research:
https://plplabs.com/wearables-in-the-workplace/
https://www.bco.org.uk/Research/Publications/Use_of_Wearables_In_The_Office_-_A_review_and_examples_in_practice.aspx
Have you got a copy of the Journal? You can purchase a copy directly from us at the journalofbiophilicdesign.com or Amazon. If you like our podcast and would like to support us in some way, you can buy us a coffee if you’d like to, thank you x
Credits: with thanks to George Harvey Audio Production for the calming biophilic soundscape that backs all our podcasts.
Did you know our podcast is also on Audible, Amazon Music, Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, Stitcher, vurbl, podbay, podtail, and most if not all the RSS feeds?
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/journalofbiophilicdesign/
Twitter https://twitter.com/JofBiophilicDsn
LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/company/journalofbiophilicdesign/
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https://plplabs.com/reap-what-you-sow-2/
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The UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries and this fact is yet another reason we need more Biophilic Design included into urban planning, architecture, design, and every environmental facet of city and town life. Robert Delius, Associate Director, Architect and Head of Sustainability at Stride Treglown is doing just that. Aiming to maximise biodiversity through design, Robert has a passion to create an Eden, where buildings and landscapes come together and there's a feeling of abundance, where there's nature and birdsong and insect life and a powerful sense of well-being. Robert’s background in housing design and master planning has set him up in good stead to create good design and great places. Distinctiveness and place making are a thread through his career. He also has a particular interest in regenerative design and how great design can have a measurably positive impact on climate, ecology and people. In short, he is a brilliantly creative proactive advocate for Biophilic Design. He believes that forging a closer connection to the natural world, is extremely good for our well-being as well as being good for the planet and good for nature, and his passion for Biophilic Design is life-long. One of the projects he discusses is his Great Bow Yard project in Somerset from 2008. This had gained media attention because it had been flagged as the most energy efficient scheme in the UK. Having recently revisited the project, Robert notes that residents, are not only pleased with the low energy costs, but were actually most enthused by the shared garden and the feelings of well-being that stem from it being a beautiful spot. In this podcast, Robert talks of his background and upbringing and how that has led him to his passion for living in harmony with nature. He discusses how on his projects, and those of his colleagues, he always looks to introduce as many opportunities as possible for planting in designs, both internally and externally to reduce hard space and introduce a softer more natural element. This passion is carried through to the present day. As we said at the beginning, Robert is concerned to note that the UK is the most one of the most nature depleted countries in the world and this fact has inspired him, and others, to create a public event “Code Red for Nature” (link below), a funeral for nature in Bath on 20th April 2024. The event is open to all, even Chris Packham will be there supporting and Dan Pearson design studio will also be taking part. Great Bow Yard: https://stridetreglown.com/projects/great-bow-yard/ Code Red: https://www.coderedfornature.uk/ 2pm on Saturday 20th April 2024 in Bath, TAKE PART IN ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL AND AMBITIOUS PIECES OF STREET THEATRE YET TO BE ENACTED ON BEHALF OF BIODIVERSITY LOSS If you like this, please subscribe! Please register for our newsletter on our website https://journalofbiophilicdesign.com/podcasts-journal-of-biophilic-design Credits: with thanks to George Harvey Audio Production for the calming biophilic soundscape that backs all our podcasts. Did you know our podcast is also on Audible, Amazon Music, Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, Stitcher, vurbl, podbay, podtail, and most if not all the RSS feeds? Facebook https://www.facebook.com/journalofbiophilicdesign/ Twitter https://twitter.com/JofBiophilicDsn LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/company/journalofbiophilicdesign/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/journalofbiophilicdesign
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Robert Gardner is CEO and Co-Founder of Rebalance Earth. With over 20 years of experience in the financial industry, he has a unique expertise in sustainability, pensions, and wealth management and believes that money can be a force for good.
Rebalance Earth, is a fund manager that redirects the flow of private capital to protect and restore Nature. Their mission is to drive the transition to a nature-based economy by enabling the flow of private capital to protect and restore nature. Rebalance Earth achieves this by creating opportunities for investors to achieve sustainable financial returns from projects to restore Nature.
Robert is passionate about the idea of “natural capital”. He believes that investment in the environment shouldn’t simply be about climate change but should take a broader approach. He sees a future in which biophilia is prominent and discussion of environment-conscious investment should include reduced biodiversity loss, rewilding, and all aspects of being in tune with nature.
Robert sees nature as the most valuable asset class on the planet. It provides everything from clean air to carbon capture and biodiversity; not forgetting that a balanced ecosystem is essential to create pollination and soil fertility for our food.
The investment community currently operates an extractive financial model that has been using all of nature's resources for free, not valuing them and, worse than that, destroying them. Rebalance Earth is taking steps to build and propagate a more sustainable, biophilic approach.
In this podcast, Robert talks about how he studied Geography at university and how his passions are hydrography and glaciology. He notes with sadness that a glacier he worked on as part of the Alpine Glacier Project during his studies is now gone. He sees glaciers as the canary in the coalmine of climate change and nature loss but sees the good news as being that this can be turned around with money used as a force for good.
Robert explains how his background, growing up in Holland and travelling all over the world with his parents led to his interest in geography and how is career in finance and 25 years of learning how money flows around the world has led him to establishing Rebalance Earth. He says that there is no point having a great pension if we have no coral reefs, rivers are filthy, there are no fish, and the air is polluted. There’s nothing to enjoy!
He sets out his idea that nature should be valued. He explains that assets have utility, scarcity and cashflow in order to be valued. He gives us the example of the humble bee and how it has been estimated that it would cost £1.8bn to pollinate crops if the bee were to disappear. Using this and other examples Robert observes that the concept of valuing nature is currently an intangible and how by making the intangible tangible, people will value nature and therefore will look after it. Because people look after things they value.
The five key problems that Robert sees in the UK are: Flooding, Drought, Water Quality, Biodiversity and Carbon. He goes on to detail how each of these problems represent significant opportunities for companies to make a return. The essence is the idea that companies can charge customers for reducing the customers’ risks across these areas.
He is excited by his dream that pension funds allocate 2% of their capital to invest in nature (enough to bridge the nature deficit), companies start paying for services to reduce risks from the five problem areas and the UK becomes a place worth living in.
It would be amazing if we all look at the successful ideas around the world, which Robert shares with us in the podcast, and see how they work, so we really see the value of investing in Nature. For instance, nature-based towns and cities, a countryside with nature back in it and a farming system that has nature at the heart of it. Once people see that it works they will do more.
Rebalance Earth: https://www.rebalance.earth/
White Paper: https://www.rebalance.earth/s/Rebalance-Earth-The-Nature-Opportunity.pdf
have you got a copy of the Journal? You can purchase a copy directly from us at the journalofbiophilicdesign.com or Amazon. If you like our podcast and would like to support us in some way, you can buy us a coffee if you’d like to, thank you x
Credits: with thanks to George Harvey Audio Production for the calming biophilic soundscape that backs all our podcasts.
Did you know our podcast is also on Audible, Amazon Music, Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, Stitcher, vurbl, podbay, podtail, and most if not all the RSS feeds?
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/journalofbiophilicdesign/
Twitter https://twitter.com/JofBiophilicDsn
LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/company/journalofbiophilicdesign/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/journalofbiophilicdesign
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The British Institute of Interior Design (BIID) is the only professional institute for interior designers in the UK. Our growing membership represents both the commercial and residential sectors, from heritage to cutting edge. In addition to rigorous entry requirements which assess training, experience and professionalism, they require our members to continue their professional development throughout their career to ensure their continued expertise in design process, practice and regulatory matters.
For those wishing to find an interior designer or to confirm the credibility of a potential interior designer they offer a directory of our Registered Interior Designers.
Each year BIID celebrates the very best of British interior design through its awards program. The BIID Interior Design Awards showcase the best interior design projects completed across the UK.
Winners are awarded across 7 regional categories ranging from the largest commercial project to the smallest residential dwelling. In addition, there are two landmark prices – the Interior of the Year Prize, which is awarded to the best interior design project in the UK and the Anna Whitehead Prize, which is awarded to the best achievement in sustainable interior design. 9 awards will be given out in total, along with acknowledgements of Highly Commended projects.
In this podcast, we are joined by two previous award winners and one of the judges of this year’s awards to discuss the value of the awards programme. If you are reading this on an RSS feed, try and visit https://journalofbiophilicdesign.com/podcasts-journal-of-biophilic-design to view the visuals from these brilliant projects.
James Gavigan is co-founder of House of Kin (houseofkin.com) who were the Greater London winners for 2023 with their Riverside project. The Riverside is a unique nursery that preserves the character of the original church building, whilst combining clean aesthetics, soft colours, and simple lines with homely and interactive touches. The judges praised its harmonious and child-friendly design, emphasizing sustainability with cork-clad walls, wood waste flooring, and recycled plastic bottle tiles. The space is imaginative, thoughtful, and perfect for children's learning and growth.
Susie Pfeiffer founded Pfeiffer design who won the Anna Whitehead Prize in 2022 for their design studio. The studio was designed with sustainability at the forefront; it uses a wide range of the latest sustainable technologies, sourced locally and is an inspiration to others looking to use similar sustainable elements within their own homes and offices.
Asif Din is one of the judges for the 2024 awards. He is the Sustainability Director at Perkins & Will. He has worked across the world as an architect and is a keen advocate of Zero Carbon design projects and the use of circularity in design.
Susie and James explain the importance to them, as past winners, of the BIID awards. How, the bring kudos and opportunity to their businesses but also how they bring the design community together and elevate design standards, especially when talking about sustainability and fostering creativity so that design doesn't become bland.
From a judge’s perspective, Asif comments on how it is often clear that biophilic aspects such as sustainability and environmental factors have been considered from the start as clear elements in any project. Such projects stand out and are key to achieving success at the awards.
Throughout the discussion it is clear that just adding sustainable materials to a design doesn’t make the overall design sustainable. Consideration has to be given to materials being appropriate for the design; the design can’t simply include “box-ticking” elements.
Durability is mentioned as a major factor in materials choice for many sustainable designs.
The participants are all clear that a sustainable design doesn’t involve a compromise on aesthetics. Indeed, taking a biophilic approach to design can enhance the look and feel of a space and contribute to a deeper, more meaningful aesthetic that resonates with the principles of balance with nature.
Overall, the conversation brings to the fore the joy and inspiration that great design that fully embraces biophilia brings to those who use the spaces created. Oh, and you might also win kudos and recognition in the form of a BIID award!
https://biid.org.uk/biid-interior-design-awards
https://biid.org.uk/winners-23
https://biid.org.uk/judges
Chapel Barn: https://www.pfeifferdesign.co.uk/our-approach/sustainability/
Riverside: https://biid.org.uk/design-practice-house-kin
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Steve Tonkin is the Dark Sky Advisor to Cranborne Chase National Landscape, in Wiltshire. Cranborne Chase is a designate Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty that, since 2019, has been recognised as an International Dark Sky Reserve.
Steve can pinpoint 4 October 1957 as the first became aware of dark skies. His family were, at the time, living 8 miles outside Bulawayo, Zimbabwe and his father took him outside to see if they could see Sputnik which had been launched the previous day. It was his first time looking up at a pristine dark sky and it triggered a life-long passion for astronomy which has made him aware of the effects of light pollution, and he has been raising the issue with anyone who will listen for the last 30 years.
After a first career as a telecommunications engineer, he did a BSc in Human Environmental Studies, then postgraduate work in technology policy, before training as a teacher. He taught physics, maths and astronomy in a variety of settings for 35 years, before retiring from teaching to concentrate on astronomy outreach activities. He has written several books on practical astronomy, has a monthly column in BBC Sky at Night Magazine, and is a regular speaker on astronomical topics.
Starting with a programme he made for BBC Radio Bristol in the 1980s, Steve has long been an advocate of reducing light pollution. He supported the Cranborne Chase’s International Dark Sky Reserve bid as a volunteer, taking sky quality readings and supporting the stargazing evenings by giving talks and showing people the night sky. His primary task as Dark Skies Advisor is to continue and consolidate the good work that has already been done and strengthen the Cranborne Chase’s standing as an International Dark Sky Reserve.
Light pollution is a global issue. The pollution itself is known to affect human health and wildlife behaviour and that is before considering the wasted energy involved in sending light upwards instead of downwards to where it is required. To take a Biophilic approach to the design of lighting is to reduce light pollution with direct and indirect benefits to nature.
Steve explains that there are 21 International Dark Sky Reserves across the world that have been recognised as being of distinguished quality. He explains that these spaces are not about no lights but about the right light in the right place at the right time to preserve the area for heritage, educational and enjoyment purposes.
Dark skies are relative. A truly dark sky is defined by Steve as one in which the Milky Way galaxy casts a shadow. In the context of Cranborne Chase, it means the ability to see the Andromeda galaxy with the naked eye. Steve expresses his excitement at being able to see something that is 2.5 million light years away and has been visible to earth since before humans were even around and was visible to all humans ever until light pollution started to be introduced 200 years ago.
Steve explains in some detail why it is important to take account of the circadian rhythm of light and darkness and how there is always a negative effect of introducing artificial light. He discusses the impact on the reproductive cycle of birds and relates that 8 to 10 million birds a year are killed by lit communication towers.
Moving to humans, Steve tells of studies linking light pollution to
· increased susceptibility to cancer;
· increased incidence of obesity, diabetes and hypertension due to the impact of poor lighting on leptin levels (leptin being the hormone that tells you if you feel full);
· the impact of the wrong sort of light on mental and physical health; and
· the huge reduction in insect life (both pollinators and composters) and its impact on food production.
Across a wide range of examples Steve explains how the wrong light can have disastrous consequences. He introduces the idea that not all light is the same and sets out what to look for in order to achieve healthy lighting.
Steve enumerates the five principles of responsible lighting:
1. if lighting doesn’t have a clear purpose, don’t do it
2. lighting needs to be targeted
3. don’t use light brighter than is needed for the task
4. use as warm colour as possible (i.e. low colour temperature)
5. only have lighting on when it is needed
This leads to a fascinating discussion of lighting design, how it has improved over the last 30 years and of ways to achieve better lighting solutions.
Listening to Steve, you learn that Dark Sky movements are not just to keep astronomers happy. It is really a heading that focusses thinking on lighting design and the health and environmental benefits of biophilic lighting design.
https://darksky.org/Darkskies.uk
https://darksky.uk/
https://britastro.org/dark-skies/
THE DARK SKY MANIFESTO - JOHAN EKLÖF
Publisher: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/447865/the-darkness-manifesto-by-eklof-johan/9781529116106
Kindle: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Darkness-Manifesto-pollution-threatens-ancient-ebook/dp/B0B41NCKRY/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
Have you got a copy of the Cities issue of The Journal of Biophilic Design (you can purchase a copy directly from us at the journalofbiophilicdesign.com or Amazon. If you like our podcast and would like to support us in some way, you can buy us a coffee if you’d like to, thank you x
*due to bereavement at the JBD HQ there has been a delay in the final editing, many apologies. But like a late flowering bloom, there is much to be learnt from this podcast, and we are incredibly grateful for Morgan and Greengage’s expertise and patience. x
Credits: with thanks to George Harvey Audio Production for the calming biophilic soundscape that backs all our podcasts.
Did you know our podcast is also on Audible, Amazon Music, Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, Stitcher, vurbl, podbay, podtail, and most if not all the RSS feeds?
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/journalofbiophilicdesign/
Twitter https://twitter.com/JofBiophilicDsn
LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/company/journalofbiophilicdesign/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/journalofbiophilicdesign
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Morgan Taylor leads the biodiversity side of Greengage, a multidisciplinary environmental consultancy who cover everything from energy and carbon assessments, sustainability, health, wellbeing, socio-economic assessment, and EIA management as well as the whole gamut of biodiversity assessment through to planning.
As designers, architects, or planners, we all need to be mindful of the impact our ideas, advice and decisions have on the world around us. We recorded this interview in the summer last year* Their work is focused outside of the legislative and planning policy sphere in the world of natural capital and ecosystem service value assessment. So rather than working with developers where they are only brought in because there is a potential impact on biodiversity in the first place, they're working with a lot of people with regards to asset management, land management, informing how financial capital is put towards recovery of natural capital across managed assets.
We’ve got hundreds, maybe thousands of years of degradation and we need to take measures and understanding to address the impacts of our actions, and account for the significant loss of biodiversity particularly since the Industrial Revolution.
Morgan outlines all the different levels of legislation and planning policy that impact biodiversity in the built environment. He highlights three aspects of legislation and regulation that particularly drive positive change:
1. the Wildlife and Countryside Act.
2. The Habitats and Species Conservation Regulations, and
3. the Environment Act, which is from 2021.
These three pieces of legislation, he says, drive most actions with regards to protected species, protected habitats and importantly, the Environment Act is the legislation that will require all new development as of November 2023 to deliver measurable gains in biodiversity.
Morgan explains how Greengage guide development and design teams to incorporate biophilic design into their projects to improve biodiversity and meet the legal requirements. He explains that the scope can be as narrow as simply integrating swift boxes and house sparrow boxes or as broad and complex as approaches such as recreating woodland.
Moving away from the regulatory “stick”, Morgan explains how the requirement for financial disclosure by FTSE 100 companies resulting from the Taskforce for Climate-related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) has created a “carrot” where positive disclosure on areas such as urban heat islands, surface water and all aspects of climate change can improve the prospects of securing investment.
Greengage, says Morgan, are particularly excited about the sister disclosure recommendations from the Taskforce for Nature-related Financial Disclosure (TNFD). With a similar “carrot” companies benefit from how they implement biophilic design and how the economic benefits improve investor return.
He lays out in some details the potential for improved building performance that comes from delivering a living roof in terms of energy performance for both cooling and heating, reduced surface water meaning lower flood risk and contributions to net zero strategies.
The approach Morgan outlines is focused on the key driver for business, capital growth, and explains how biophilic design and improved biodiversity help them achieve that fundamental goal as well as being able to be proud of their green credentials.
Morgan expands on his theme covering urban and rural developments and the application of a biophilic approach in many aspects of ecology. He concludes with his personal desire to see an integrated green infrastructure in which grasslands take the place of lawns and the landscape in both town and country is managed as a habitat for nature rather than predominantly as a human playground.
To find out more visit
https://www.greengage-env.com
Have you got a copy of the Cities issue of The Journal of Biophilic Design (you can purchase a copy directly from us at the journalofbiophilicdesign.com or Amazon. If you like our podcast and would like to support us in some way, you can buy us a coffee if you’d like to, thank you x
*due to bereavement at the JBD HQ there has been a delay in the final editing, many apologies. But like a late flowering bloom, there is much to be learnt from this podcast, and we are incredibly grateful for Morgan and Greengage’s expertise and patience. x
Credits: with thanks to George Harvey Audio Production for the calming biophilic soundscape that backs all our podcasts.
Did you know our podcast is also on Audible, Amazon Music, Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, Stitcher, vurbl, podbay, podtail, and most if not all the RSS feeds?
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/journalofbiophilicdesign/
Twitter https://twitter.com/JofBiophilicDsn
LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/company/journalofbiophilicdesign/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/journalofbiophilicdesign
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We speak with Marco Gastoldi, interior designer and Associate at Gensler, who in collaboration with some amazing partners have created the theme of the Workspace Design Show in London this year. The Theme is “Bloom”, and we speak in this podcast about the growing awareness of Biophilic Design, how it has environmental and psychological benefits, that it is based on science, neuroscience and also the many different ways of integrating nature in the built environment.
Marco celebrates the fact that Biophilic Design is important for us, that we have a primordial innate connection to nature, an instinct. This connection produces hormones that support feelings of belonging and collaboration which are crucial to performance and connection. Humans are biological organisms and Biophilic Design supports the mind body system in terms of health and wellbeing.
“Deep down we are aware that our connection to nature is vital. We forget that recreation is recreating and restoring ourselves. We spend 90% of our time indoors and there is so much data and evidence to prove that Biophilic Design is good in the workplace. For instance the Human Spaces report that proves Biophilic Design can improve productivity by 6% and creativity by 15%. We know that connection with nature, improves individual self-esteem and mood, the presence of water for example creates a relaxing and calming effect.”
Marco also talks about Ecological Balance Theory which refers to how we prefer nature resembling colours like green and blue, but not all natural environments are green, so it’s also important to tailor to local colour pallet and ecosystems – so it’s place based.
Marco also shares quite a few examples of where Gensler has installed Biophilic Design. For instance views that integrate nature in the environment, that connect people, to bring them together in moments of wonder. He talks about the permeability of outside and inside and the power of Micro restorative experiences. These are small pockets of nature, which might be more accessible than large interventions allowing frequent exposure to small intervention results in compounded restoration response. When a long exposure to nature can’t be achieved, positioning Biophilic interventions along areas of high levels of traffic is beneficial. The Workplace survey carried out by Gensler research institute in 2023, allows Gensler to look at the data and help shape certain choices. You can read it here LINK
Biophilic Design can help companies meet the BREEAM and WELL certifications.
BREEAM is the widely used environmental assessment method and certification for buildings. It evaluates and certifies the sustainability performance of the building, on criteria such as energy efficiency, material selection and ecological impact. Biophilic Design helps in a positive way by creating indoor environments beneficial to health and wellbeing as well as ecology. Integration of Biophilic Design supports energy efficiency, comfort of the occupiers, overall sustainability and therefore aligns with the overall BREEAM code.
WELL is a performance-based system for certifying features in the built environment that impact human health and wellbeing, building design and construction as well as operation. So it looks at air quality, water, fitness, light and comfort, and obviously Biophilic Design interventions supports companies in achieving all these, for instance introduction of natural light, access to outdoor views and greenspaces.
We also chat about making #biophilicdesignawarenessday National Holiday..
Marco is speaking at the Workspace Design Show in London on 28th February 2024, free entry. The title of the panel is :Bringing energy back to the workplace, nurturing social capital and increasing happiness/productivity in the workspace" https://workspaceshow.co.uk/speaker-marco-gastoldi https://workspaceshow.co.uk/workspace-design-talks-2024
To buy a copy of The Journal of Biophilic Design visit our website www.journalofbiophilicdesign.com or from Amazon. If you like our podcast and would like to support us in some way, you can buy us a coffee if you’d like to, thank you x
Credits: with thanks to George Harvey Audio Production for the calming biophilic soundscape that backs all our podcasts.
Did you know our podcast is also on Audible, Amazon Music, Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, and most if not all the RSS feeds.
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/journalofbiophilicdesign/
Twitter https://twitter.com/JofBiophilicDsn
LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/company/journalofbiophilicdesign/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/journalofbiophilicdesign
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How do we design schools so not only children are inspired, teachers want to come to work, places are healthy, the building sustainable, the landscape regenerative, and supports biodiversity? The answer is Biophilic Design. De Verwondering is a primary school in the Netherlands, designed by architecture firm ORGA. The design won the 2023 Stephen R. Kellert Biophilic Design Award from Living Future Europe in 2023, and justifiably so and is featured in the Education issue of The Journal of Biophilic Design.
The name of school means ‘sense of wonder’ or 'amazement', referring to the sensation of curiosity in children that is triggered when they come into contact with the natural world. Any parallels with ‘The Sense of Wonder’, Rachel Carson’s timeless publication from 1960, are coincidental, but both very much speak to the same sentiment.
In this podcast we speak with Gijs Bruggink, Chef de bureau of ORGA and discuss the importance of using Natural building materials, and how we need to push boundaries for sustainable and regenerative buildings.
Gijs describes the school for our listeners, and you can see visuals of it here on the Journal website. There are three squares, with a triangular area between them, leaf shaped roof across it central area for the kids, there are big wooden steps up to the second floor, a specially designed naturally playground around he school, and there’s lots of greenery. Plus the façade has big wooden grids which allow climbing plants to grow up, so the whole school will be covered in green. There are columns in the central area, stripped tree trunks carrying the structure, sanded and oiled. Plus there is natural ventilation, separate access hatch, outlets, where a chimney effect draw fresh air 24hrs a day into the building smell of new cut grass, or smell of rain on the earth.
The difference the Biophilic Design of the school has made to the teachers, staff, and children is phenomenal, and it also shows when an organization wants to do something better with nature deeply embedded into it right from the start of the project. The difference it can make to the business, the reduction of staff and student absenteeism, the improved recruitment, overall wellbeing, air quality, acoustics and so much more.
Generally, clients are seeing the benefits of Biophilic Design, and more and more Gijs and his firm are working with them from the start, rather than fight the battle.
“It is an interesting time for designers. There are a lot of problems which need solutions nowadays with climate change and biophilic design just has a lot of answers. Not only is it beautiful but it's interesting from the health perspective and it's beneficial from a business perspective because if your users of the building are able to perform better to be more productive and they feel better, it's good for your business. There's a lot of research and science supporting these these ideas and these benefits,” says Gijs.
One of the wonderful things about the Der Verwondering design is that they have created a really healthy learning environment for children and the people working there to help them get a good education. There are also all sorts of connections to nature in the building which builds affinity with nature, and children can discover things on their own, they have a natural adventurous inquisitive nature.
We also discuss how wood lasts a really long time, and how you can use different types of wood and natural wood finishings that protect the materials of your buildings.
The Principal was at the previous school and now also at this one, and has said that the children are right at home right away in the new school with no long adjustment period. They kids can really focus on work after a break outside in nature and this focus is a big change than before. There is less absenteeism and attendance a lot better, so that along with improved recruitment it makes financial sense too.
To read more about it and see more images, Gijs also wrote in our Education issue of The Journal of Biophilic Design Printed copy https://journalofbiophilicdesign.com/shop/pre-order-journal-of-biophilic-design-issue-7-education-paperback-printed-version
Ebook PDF. https://journalofbiophilicdesign.com/shop/olwe3aq4uukmg3k3o65o1n4k1fhvww
ORGA architect: https://www.orga-architect.nl/
Gijs Bruggink: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gijsbruggink
A quote from Gijs article in Education Issue 7 of The Journal of Biophilic Design
Printed copy https://journalofbiophilicdesign.com/shop/pre-order-journal-of-biophilic-design-issue-7-education-paperback-printed-version
Ebook PDF. https://journalofbiophilicdesign.com/shop/olwe3aq4uukmg3k3o65o1n4k1fhvww
“The school as a biotope - The way the spaces in the building work together is analogous to the system of natural habitats: shared spaces in nature that allow species to both thrive and coexist. Pupils spend most of the time in an ‘ecotope’ with children of the same age, the classroom. Three clusters of classrooms, including a small gym and an outdoor classroom on the roof form ‘habitats’ where pupils meet children of adjacent ages. A couple of times each day they venture outside of the familiar surroundings of the habitat, into the larger ‘biotope’ of the school complex. For example, to the central gathering area for school meetings or to the playground outside, where they can learn more about nature and the world.”
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Dr Leighton Phillips Director of Research, Innovation and University Partnerships for the NHS Wales, Honorary Professor Aberystwyth University, and director on the Hywel Dda University Health Board joins us to share how they are bringing in Biophilic Design into healthcare in South West Wales. Part of his role is about questioning what we want the future to look like.
Dr Phillips shares with us how fundamentally important the natural environment is, how it profoundly influences our health and wellbeing. What he finds captivating about biophiilc design, is that there is an opportunity. “With over 1200 hospitals, and a million staff and nearly everyone in the UK having some interaction with the NHS services just imagine the health and planetary impact of the NHS embracing biophilic design.”
Hospitals historically have been designed with a particular modernist design approach, where it was thought that clinical settings which were white, were sterile. Of course, sterile environments are exceptionally important, but these environments do not put us at ease. We feel stressed in that setting and it doesn't aid recovery if we are talking about our hospitals.
Then if we consider that 90% of us interact more with primary care, the same can be true there. Leighton suggests that we can still maintain safe clean fantastic clinical environments while introducing colour, introducing fresh air, views of nature. We should not compromise all that we knew was good within that modernist period, but we can harness, within our current estates, the things that we know promote health and well-being and use every investment decision that we make as large organisations to do more of that, to support people and create environments that aid their recovery. Embracing the concept of Biophilic Design will drive this change.
The 10 year strategy with millions spent on healthcare infrastructure, which also sets out the future of healthcare, INCLUDES the aim to undertake activities promoting health and wellbeing. “We do more than provide services in hospitals and healthcare facilities.” It is important, he says, to “accept a wider role, in promoting health and wellbeing, and that the Biophilic approach and design is part of that. Biophilic Design keeps people healthy and well. Giving people access to fresh air, ability to walk in green spaces.” It is also important for staff to have their own decompression time, whether it is in the facility or in their own environment. Biophilic Design can help blur these boundaries personal and professional life, how we spend our time outside of work influences how we spend time in, and vice versa.
A change is happening
Things are changing in the UK, looks at the new Alder Hey Children's Hospital Trust in Liverpool, England, or the new Velindre Cancer Centre in Wales, these include the principles of Biophilic Design. While we can and should plan and build new hospitals inspired by Biophilic Design, we should also bear in mind that we still have to live with the current estate because that will still be with us. We're living with facilities that result from choices made 60-70 years ago. There's still life in those buildings and patients will still receive care, so we should also be mindful how we re-design and renovate our current estates as well. And if you think about it, ensuring success within current estate will give people the confidence to make wider changes.
Change happens within organisations because people want it and understand it. Of course you need high level ownership, but it filters down through the tiers of the organisation. To make a real shift you need 100s of people taking this on board, taking it into their personal day to day responsibility. Working with Professor Geoff Proffitt of Swansea University, Dr Phillips and his team have been adopting action learning, the application of knowledge approach. By bringing professionals together, from architects to medical professionals, building engineers, etc, they took them through a structured process over a few months. It was important that they step out of their busy environment and afford them some time to open their minds to biophilic design, and then critically to take that into their day jobs. To think about how a different future could look for our built environment.
How do we think differently?
Green groups and others within the organisation are starting to run with it. They have the National Botanical Garden of Wales on doorstep. “We are directly working with them on biodiversity and creating spaces for staff and patients to spend time in, and I believe to evidence change sustains the change and motivates people.” Show them this rapid evidence.
How do we encourage this take up on a wider scale? Show people and through every investment decision.
“Show people the positive impact biophilic design has. There is a pool of people out there who know the powerful impact that the natural world has on us. Within the Trusts or organisations, keep it real and applicable, ask them what environment they would like to work in, what are the restrictions, argue the case for change, they will have the answers.
Also, think about every investment decision as an opportunity, try and remember that you are working in systems that are under a lot of pressure, where creating space to think about how that environment can change in the future is difficult. Think how can Biophilic Design can be part of hundreds of discussions. Recognise every opportunity. Every investment decision is an opportunity. Think about the value that Biophilic Design delivers within healthcare, and all aspects of life.”
Regarding procurement, how do we value longer term investment, and battle all those tensions within a financially constrained organisation, there are tough discussions, and the supply chain has a duty of care as well, not to just peddle the same chairs, but to offer other options. We all need to be working together.
“Action learning is so important, bring all experts around the table, we do this journey together”.
To find out more about the projects Leighton is involved in visit https://hduhb.nhs.wales/
To buy a copy of the Healthcare issue that Leighton has written about this action learning programme he and his team have been running in the NHS West Wales, visit this link for the Ebook version https://journalofbiophilicdesign.com/shop/journal-of-biophilic-design-issue-3-healthcare-hospitals
or this one for the printed version https://journalofbiophilicdesign.com/shop/journal-biophilic-design-healthcare-design-magazine
To buy a copy of The Journal of Biophilic Design visit our website www.journalofbiophilicdesign.com or from Amazon. If you like our podcast and would like to support us in some way, you can buy us a coffee if you’d like to, thank you x
Credits: with thanks to George Harvey Audio Production for the calming biophilic soundscape that backs all our podcasts.
Did you know our podcast is also on Audible, Amazon Music, Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, Stitcher, vurbl, podbay, podtail, and most if not all the RSS feeds?
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/journalofbiophilicdesign/
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From designing a detailed picture of the New York Skyline in moss to how we need to design with biophilia for helping mitigate climate change this great podcast with Lily Turner explores how we are just starting to realise the very real benefits that Living walls can bring to our cities, and our work and healing spaces.
Lily Turner is an environmentalist, biophilic designer and living wall specialist. She's also director of green walls at Urban Strong, the design build maintenance firm offering services for green building technology solutions. In 2013, she co-founded urban blooms a non-profit to bring large scale, publicly accessible living walls to dense urban environments. It was after Hurricane Katrina she was rebuilding homes, restoring landscapes, repairing drip irrigation systems and fields and got to do a lot of great community projects and inspired her to launch urban blooms, which aims to bring greenery back into the built environment to benefit people in the community.
We chat about sustainability, and how policy and regulation is needed to implement green spaces, an also how “new language and concepts need to be introduced. Sustainability has become rhetoric and clouded our view of the actual state of things in our products. So adding to our lexicon is also a major part of it.” Lily also advocates like we do, that it is vital to “break down silos when looking at the built environment. Adopting a more collaborative and holistic approach, is really the only way forward. If we look at Singapore's journey, I think it represents an actual a nice beacon of hope and their government's response should be seen as inspiring to the United States and other major offenders around the world.” Shifting our lexicon from just sustainability to regeneration will also shift people's behaviour and also create more awareness.
As well as the political, we speak how Living Walls and preserved moss walls can be seen as striking forms of art, especially when you add a frame or incorporate colourful foliage, and how they offer a myriad of environmental, psychological and physiological benefits as well.
Lily has been working with Biophilic Design for almost 10 years. It has to be the way forward, it has to happen. “I don't know how we're going to survive without it.”
We also discuss the practical benefits plants bring, from creating relative humidity, especially if they're of scale and how you just feel more relaxed. When you bring that into a high stress environment, like an office or even a rehabilitation institution it is extremely important. “And I think we'll see this more and more as our healthcare system changes. And our education systems change as well.”
Even a sightline view to the outdoors, we know there's significant benefits, you have reduced stress levels. Direct connection to nature is one of the most powerful of the Biophilic Design Patterns, being surrounded by something natural and green can boost productivity, enhance creativity and cognitive function, and ultimately that leads to increased sales so there's also ROI associated with that. “If people aren't sold on environmental or the aesthetic benefits, let's look at the ROI and try to push that conversation forward And then also just having a statement Living Wall in your lobby or office you're communicating this message of progressiveness and sustainability to your investors, your clients, your partners, everyone involved in supporting your company.”
To find out more about Lily and her work visit: https://urbanstrong.com
Her work features in our “Cities” issue of the The Journal of Biophilic Design, it is a case study of multi-sensory living wall that UrbanStrong installed in a corporate office in New Jersey.
https://journalofbiophilicdesign.com/shop/journal-of-biophilic-design-issue-4-cities-ebook
To buy a copy of The Journal of Biophilic Design visit our website www.journalofbiophilicdesign.com or from Amazon. If you like our podcast and would like to support us in some way, you can buy us a coffee if you’d like to,thank you x
Credits: with thanks to George Harvey Audio Production for the calming biophilic soundscape that backs all our podcasts.
Did you know our podcast is also on Audible, Amazon Music, Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, Stitcher, vurbl, podbay, podtail, and most if not all the RSS feeds?
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/journalofbiophilicdesign/
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Tying in with Issue 6, our Blue Mind edition of The Journal of Biophilic Design we speak with Nick Hounsfield, Founder and Chief Visionary Officer at The Wave in Bristol. The Wave is an inland Surfing destination.
After working in the healthcare sector and realizing that not only one of the key aspects for people was that they were lonely but that they also were missing a connection to nature, Nick wanted to create something at scale that would have a positive impact. He also wanted to reach out to people who didn’t have access to a private healthcare system.
“How can we democratise this? How can we make it more accessible for more people?” Nick explains how he went on to create The Wave. He had a very clear purpose and mandate, wanting to appeal to everyone, be accessible in all seasons and ensuring he addressed barriers to accessing to green and blue space. “We have to break down those barriers through design, through great landscaping, a good business model, and also make sure that we're not destroying the planet and local ecology either.”
Roll forward 10 years, and they’ve managed to build it and deliver exactly what they wanted to deliver blue and green spaces for people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities.
So what is The Wave? If you could imagine a huge slice of the ocean or imagine a really amazing Cove down by the beach. It's like taking that cake slice of the ocean and lifting it up and dropping it right in the middle of the field. There are absolutely perfect surfing waves, and lighter ones just as you get at the beach, and then you've got really nice whitewater waves on the inside for people who just want to splash and play around or bodyboard. The water is Caribbean in colour so also looks perfect. People come just to walk the pier which stretches out across the waves to enjoy the sound of the waves.
Nick and his team have created a beautiful space where people can connect with water as observers or enjoy an immersive and active connection. Being close to the city of Bristol, partnerships were an important part of the vision. Working with groups who do not have access to green and blue space and who have mental and physical health issues, they bring them to the wave. By growing the adaptive surf community they have made sure that the whole space was designed so it is truly accessible. And with surfing now part of the Olympics we might see that surfing will also be part of the Paralympics. “We've now got the most amazing training facility for these athletes, and have genuine medal contenders in our midst so hopefully that whole sport will grow which is good.”
“That's the key thing, really, it's about that partnership because we will never profess to know everything about the challenges and issues that different sectors of society have. So, it's about partnering up with people who do really know what's going on, and we're just providing a facility. We break down the barriers together.”
Why is that nature connection important?
“It's everything.” Nick goes on to describe how we felt that nature was taken away from us during Lockdown, and even now “there are young families stuck in high-rise apartments with no access to green or space blue space at all, they walk along a concrete road to get to school and it's a concrete playground, there's no green space there. And that is their life. That just doesn't feel like it's a healthy existence.” It’s important to democratize that open space, green space, blue space, “just having some horizons around us to be able to lift your head, lift your mind, lift your spirits. If you're surrounded by things that have been designed to encapsulate you the whole time, that just creates such a closed-minded spirit as well as an attitude. And I think that's a real shame, particularly for the younger generation growing up in that space.”
We need to re-establish those connections that have been lost and look back historically when that connection was intrinsic. “We are not better than nature, we are nature. And actually, nature has got so many of the cures for our ills. And we have to be mindful of that and get back to promoting it, that being natural isn't some kind of woowoo but that it is something for the people.” This is where biophilic design comes in, “if we want something to be sustainable for the long term, to have real longevity, we need to go back to nature for that design brief.”
What is it about Blue Mind?
There is some really good research now that shows how Blue Mind, Blue Health really has a positive impact on physical and mental well-being. From being around water to being in water and experiencing that feeling when gravity is taken away from your body. There is also that penetration of blue, which reduces heart rate and cortisol levels it calms everything down.
What about Surfing?
“There is a sort of ebb and flow where you're doing something incredibly focused, particularly an activity where you have to be in the moment and you can't think about anything else apart from having to catch this wave, you've got this locked in focused moment. It’s quite Zen-like, all those other worries in your world, just melt away because you're so focused. Then I love where there is the peaceful calm when the wave has passed, and maybe you're paddling back out, or when maybe you're down by the beach, and you're sat waiting for the next wave, you're just looking at the big horizon. There is that moment of calm, the sort of peacefulness with it. I love the juxtaposition of the two. And that's why surfing I think brings so much and especially wave riding, you don't have to stand up on a wave. It could be bodyboarding it could be just splashing around in the water. I think that's the lovely sort of ebb and flow of the emotions.”
“…this is a place and a space for me to find the best version of myself.”
Nick calls for similar concepts to spring up in other cities and other countries because he thinks “everybody should have an access to these kinds of facilities. So in terms of designing, master planning and huge developments, I think it's something that we should be mindful of going forward. Building a future that is much more sustainable for our society, learn from mistake, and incorporate really good design when master planning cities, towns and settlements in the future. I think what's been great is The Wave has demonstrated that actually, you can do that triple bottom line where you're doing right by the planet, you’re looking after the people along the way, and also having an economically viable model.I just would love that thinking to be replicated in other places, whether there's a Wave there or not, but that triple bottom line, philosophy really can work if it's if it's properly committed to.”
The Wave could be coming to a city near you, watch out for developments, sign up to their newsletter, go visit, enjoy the food, music, camping, and go catch a Wave at The Wave visit:
www.thewave.com
To buy a copy of The Journal of Biophilic Design visit our website www.journalofbiophilicdesign.com or from Amazon. If you like our podcast and would like to support us in some way, you can buy us a coffee if you would like to support us, thank you x
Credits: with thanks to George Harvey Audio Production for the calming biophilic soundscape that backs all our podcasts.
Did you know our podcast is also on Audible, Amazon Music, Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, Stitcher, vurbl, podbay, podtail, and most if not all the RSS feeds?
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/journalofbiophilicdesign/
Twitter https://twitter.com/JofBiophilicDsn
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To register your interest in attending our Biophilic Design Conference visit www.biophilicdesignconference.com
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Building on an earlier conversation we had in 2020 with a co-founder of Skogluft, we speak today with Morten Kvam, CEO of Skogluft. Not only does it sound beautiful and uplifting, in Norwegian it means “Forest Air”. We talk about how plants are essential to have in the built environment and how the main founder of Skogluft Bjorn Virumdal was a mechanical engineer and realised that biological models were needed to explain the effects of nature indoors. NASA had conducted some research on how astronauts would be affected by the lack of nature. After speaking with them to explore their findings Bjorn then conducted further scientific research to prove how different plants and different light affected people in different working environments. His research looked at three main aspects: the feeling of being awake, headaches and respiratory problems and he took readings before and after the intervention.
The results showed the positive effects of having nature indoors. Tiredness reduced by 40%, headaches reduced by 35% and concentration problems reduced by 16%. Morten says they have over 7.2kg worth of printed evidence that nature is good for us!
There is evidence that plants in a room may reduce the dust level of the air, as found by Lohr and Pearson-Mims (1996). The dust content of the indoor air is often too high and might irritate mucous membranes in eyes and respiratory organs (throat, nose). When plants are healthy and are in your workplace, home, school or healthcare space, there is an increase in air humidity which may bind more of the dust, and as a result reduce some of the health complaints associated with dust (and maybe also pollen). The large leaf surface of plants probably promotes sedimentation of dust from the air, which will reduce the dust level. Just imagine if we place plants close to the computer – where both dust level and the level of static electricity is often high, we might see a reduction in irritations in respiratory organs. This could be really useful in healthcare environments especially receptions and schools.
Feedback from users who have installed Skogluft say that one of the benefits is that acoustic levels really improve. They are also ideal in dentist waiting rooms, or anywhere you might feel stressed or anxious because the green walls create a feeling of calm. On the other side of the coin, there is a very large Skogluft wall in a library north of Oslo, who now want to implement it in all libraries in the city. We discuss how we could install green walls in university and study spaces. They have already installed many in the working spaces in Healthcare environments for the employees. If we think of all the halls, rest areas, outside treatment areas, receptions, and so on, there are many places we could implement green walls so many people receive the benefit.
Morten shared that the Skogluft Green wall is a best kept secret for one of the Norwegian football clubs who feel it gives them the advantage to compete and win games. It is important for that club to feel the vitality and life of nature, instead of the usual naked walls you get inside clubs.
The more plants you have the more positive effects you earn! For Skogluft, their plant of preference is the Golden Pothos, which research has shown that these are very positive and have a greater effect than other plants. One hypothesis is that they produce lots of chlorophyl per time unt per square inch. This is still a hypothesis, but it seems they are better than other green plants. Also they are very robust, look good, and are easy to maintain year after year. They survive even if you forget to water them for a week or two!
We also talk about the importance of light. The positive effect of light reflecting on nature. “We are programmed to stay in nature, we have always been surrounded by plants and light together,” Morten says. “It makes people react more positively when we see light reflected on plants.”
In his magic brush of biophilia, he says we should be looking to install nature everywhere, and “just like toilets are compulsory in buildings so should nature be compulsory nature indoors everywhere.” I think I’ll be sharing that last thought many many times. It’s straightforward and simple to grasp - nature should indeed be compulsory in every building.
Skogluft creates living walls which are super simple to install and even has an app do you don’t kill the plants! We all have a choice when it comes to who we work with and the companies we represent. Morten tells us that while his background was not nature-based, he chose Skogluft because as a company they are making a difference to people’s wellbeing.
To find out more about Skogluft: https://www.skogluft.com
Have a listen to our the podcast we did with Stine Wettergreen way back in 2020 which this one today builds on that initial conversation! https://journalofbiophilicdesign.com/podcast-journal-of-biophilic-design/skogluft-forest-air
To buy a copy of The Journal of Biophilic Design visit our website www.journalofbiophilicdesign.com or from Amazon. If you like our podcast and would like to support us in some way, you can buy us a coffee if you would like to support us, thank you x
Credits: with thanks to George Harvey Audio Production for the calming biophilic soundscape that backs all our podcasts.
Did you know our podcast is also on Audible, Amazon Music, Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, Stitcher, vurbl, podbay, podtail, and most if not all the RSS feeds?
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/journalofbiophilicdesign/
Twitter https://twitter.com/JofBiophilicDsn
LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/company/journalofbiophilicdesign/
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To register your interest in attending our Biophilic Design Conference visit www.biophilicdesignconference.com
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Change is about people and when it comes to people, there is no formula and there is no one way, this is challenging and hard. For designers, architects, planners who are trying to convince people to do something different, to do something maybe that business has never done before, what tools do we need to help take our clients on that “change” journey with us?
I was lucky to catch up with the Change Master, Jennifer Bryan, who will also be speaking at Workplace Trends in London on 18th October 2023. Jennifer shares with us some tips to help you lead that change, for her there is “no change without learning and no learning without change,” and it has to come from a “people centric perspective.”
Jennifer, gives us some sound advice. She describes what she calls the “end person in mind approach.” If you think about the person who is the furthest away from the decision making room, when they first hear about the change (whether that the watercooler gossip or a town hall) if you can make that initial moment for that positive then you will have a positive initial moment for everyone else in between.
There are 8 different reasons why people resist change. Jennifer outlines some with us here. Sometimes it’s because they don’t understand the change, or it could be how they perceive it, it could be fear or emotional, or historical. If you want to fine tune your potential to lead change, get your hands on her book: “Leading People in Change”. Understand where that “resistance” might be coming from. Ask the questions so you might understand why they might be resisting. Take them on a bit of a journey. Help people understand the “so what”.
We forget that other people aren’t in that same space, and we need to be able to articulate that “so what” but it has to be that “so what” for them.
Think of this podcast as the essential spanners in your “Toolbox of Persuasion.” There’s a lot of good advice in this podcast for those involved in bringing Biophilic Design into the mainstream. We can help leaders and managers understand that Biophilia is not just fluff, help them to visualise a positive outcome and from a different angle.
Jennifer says there are three key questions you need to consider, and when you know the answers you have to articulate the solutions from the heart. Firstly, what is it you’re trying to do, secondly why now, and finally how are people going to think and feel about it?
Remember we all have the passion within us to bring about change, learning how to lead that change is a skill, which is why advice from consultants like Jennifer are helpful in encouraging your clients build that change muscle internally.
Why not come and meet Jennifer in person on 18th October 2023 in London, where she will be speaking about “Adopting Foresight” at Workplace Trends event, and presenting results from a research project with Henley Business School. To register your place at the event visit:
https://workplacetrends.co/events/wt23-programme/
USE CODE JBD20 for 20% off the published delegate rate at https://workplacetrends.co/events/wt23/
To find out more about Jennifer, visit
linkedin.com/in/jennifer-l-bryan abchangeconsultancy.com
JenniferLBryan.com (Portfolio)
inspirationalspeakers.co.uk/speaker/jennifer-bryan/ (Portfolio)
And don’t forget to buy her book “Leading People in Change”
To buy a copy of The Journal of Biophilic Design visit our website www.journalofbiophilicdesign.com or from Amazon. If you like our podcast and would like to support us in some way, you can buy us a coffee if you would like to support us, thank you x
Credits: with thanks to George Harvey Audio Production for the calming biophilic soundscape that backs all our podcasts.
Did you know our podcast is also on Audible, Amazon Music, Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, Stitcher, vurbl, podbay, podtail, and most if not all the RSS feeds?
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/journalofbiophilicdesign/
Twitter https://twitter.com/JofBiophilicDsn
LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/company/journalofbiophilicdesign/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/journalofbiophilicdesign
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Are you an agent for change? What is the barrier to designing better? Sometimes it is the apparent complexity of legislation governing ecology, planning and design that prevents people from discovering the best way of doing something. Fortunately, there is a simple award scheme that helps developers, builders, planners and designers navigate the myriad of paperwork and advisory bodies.
We speak with Dr Gemma Jerome, Director of Building with Nature, which helps define what good looks like in terms of green infrastructure (the way planners talk about nature). What I particularly love about Building with Nature is that it also helps give nature a seat around the table, especially at the beginning of the planning process and helps nature become a specification driver in planning and development. Building with Nature has an open-source Standards Framework, a one-stop-shop for all sectorial knowledge and expertise including Nature recovery, Sustainable water management through nature-based solutions, wellbeing, access and inclusivity to open and green spaces.
Gemma is also an environmental planner with a specialism in the design, delivery, and stewardship of green infrastructure. She is a Fellow of the Landscape Institute and co-chaired the British Standards Institute panel for the BS8683:2021 Process for designing and implementing Biodiversity Net Gain, and recently supported the RTPI/RSPB design code. In addition, Gemma has sat on various government roundtables and advisory panels offering expertise on design quality and is currently supporting the development of the Natural England Green Infrastructure Standards Framework.
We talk about how planners and designers can use the Building with Nature Award Scheme as an external verification to tell the story of what they’ve done, to share learning, and to reassure key stakeholders who want better outcomes for people and wildlife. For instance, if you need to reassure communities that the developer has thought about all these things, or the local authority needs external verification, or investors need assurance. The Award Scheme is measurable and so offers this metric-based assurance to help you demonstrate to stakeholders you are planning and designing with the goal of reaching net zero, supporting nature recovery, as well as supporting people’s health and wellbeing.
In an ideal world, before we build, we would watch a space for a year. This would be best practice to understand constraints. But we rarely do that with development, there is always a real rush to approve the master plan, to construct and implement. But then when it’s all done, most of the stakeholders leave, and other people (mainly the residents) have to develop a relationship with it and steward it over time. Gemma encourages us to focus on the front end, let’s start with nature rather than trying to consider it at the end of the process, where it can often cost more money to rectify should issues arise.
In the podcast we also look at retrofitting and how it can be done incredibly well. Gemma shares with us as a case study, the Queensland Court in Glasgow https://www.buildingwithnature.org.uk/project-list-blog/2022/9/29/queensland-court-amp-gardens-cardonald
There are many more more case studies on their website which showcase best practice and the successs of the Building with Nature Award scheme; visit “projects” and you can filter them by region www.Buildingwithnature.org.uk
To buy a copy of The Journal of Biophilic Design visit our website www.journalofbiophilicdesign.com or from Amazon. If you like our podcast and would like to support us in some way, you can buy us a coffee if you would like to support us, thank you x
Credits: with thanks to George Harvey Audio Production for the calming biophilic soundscape that backs all our podcasts.
Did you know our podcast is also on Audible, Amazon Music, Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, Stitcher, vurbl, podbay, podtail, and most if not all the RSS feeds?
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When we design spaces, we need to consider how beautiful a place looks, how useful it is, is it fit for function and so on. We should also consider how the sensory elements of the space also stack up. In other podcasts and also in the Journal itself, we look at how our senses are impacted by sound, light, smell, even the haptic elements (those things we touch), smell (is the air fresh and clear) and many other things. All of us are affected by the impact our environment has on our senses, some of us more than others.
In this episode, we speak with Dr Keren MacLennan, Assistant Professor in Neurodiversity in the Department of Psychology, Durham University. Her research focusses on understanding how autistic people’s sensory processing differences relate to their mental health and experiences of different environments. She is co-producing research to support mental wellbeing to make environments more enabling for autistic individuals.
We walk about how we all process sensory experience slightly differently, and how those of us who are neurodiverse might find certain sensory environments really challenging.
So what is Sensory Reactivity? Where ‘Sensory Processing’ looks at what’s happening actually inside the brain, ‘Sensory Reactivity’ looks at people’s reactions to the space, and therefore we can then make inferences about what’s going on in the brain itself.
Keren talks about ‘Sensory hyper-reactivity’ where people might react more strongly to sounds, taste, touch, who might find some as overwhelming or painful. From this negative response we can infer that something is processing differently in the brain than others might process it.
In her research autistic people shared that a lot of environments are disabling because of the sensory input. If you think about public transport, healthcare, restaurants, supermarkets, these can be heavy sensory burdensome environments. The Sensory landscapes in those places are challenging, lots of sounds, people, smells, lights, colours. It is important to design with the people who are using it in mind. In cities we can reduce sound and cacophony, creating zones and spaces for people to take a moment, to take a break and recover. If we look at the spatial design avoiding having just enclosed spaces, include also open spaces so people aren’t going to get funnelled through.
There is a high prevalence of sensory sensitivity among autistic people, but it also prevalent among people with ADHD as well as PTSD, OCD or who are experiencing anxiety. For instance someone who is anxious is in a state of fight or flight all the time, and therefore might over process their environment, and so might react to the various stimuli in a similar way.
How can we bring in Biophilic Design to support neurodiversity and autistic people? 22 mins
From her research we know that the top enabling spaces, are outdoors places like parks, beach, woodlands. The effects of nature on autistic people are positive, and especially for children they help support sensory, motor and social developments.
If we also bring in natural elements in design, we are making the spaces more enjoyable. Biophilic colour schemes and patterns tend to be more aligned to our innate processing, for instance, we process nature and natural patterns easier.
There is a new BSI Design guide for neurodiversity, which outlines advice on how to make spaces sensory inclusive, and it mentions biophilic design on a number of occasions, suggesting more greenery in spaces, which of course absorbs sound, and our brain enjoys processing nature information. Also in a pilot study she did, videos and sounds from nature were rated as being very enjoyable for autistic people.
As always, when designing, don’t just go in with theory, which of course is a good starting point, make sure you also consult the people who are going to engage in that space. Is this going to be a beneficial space for them? Make sure engage with the stakeholders to make sure it is going to work for everyone. There are always different skill sets in a business, and of course these also can be quite varied in personality types, and everybody has expertise. Co-design, collaborate, everyone who shares that spaces, everyone should have that input.
To connect with Dr MacLennan,
https://www.durham.ac.uk/staff/keren-maclennan/
To read her research:
“It Is a Big Spider Web of Things”: Sensory Experiences of Autistic Adults in Public Spaces
https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/aut.2022.0024?journalCode=aut
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To buy a copy of The Journal of Biophilic Design visit our website www.journalofbiophilicdesign.com or from Amazon. If you like our podcast and would like to support us in some way, you can buy us a coffee if you’d like to, thank you x
Credits: with thanks to George Harvey Audio Production for the calming biophilic soundscape that backs all our podcasts.
Did you know our podcast is also on Audible, Amazon Music, Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, Stitcher, vurbl, podbay, podtail, and most if not all the RSS feeds?
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Plants to the Rescue #PlantsatWorkWeek2023 An ambulance makes an appearance at the Oxford Business Park. Everyone is keen to know who’s in need of medical help without appearing too nosey. Watching from afar one person noted something wasn’t quite right – plants kept appearing, peeping out of the back of the ambulance and round the corners of the doors. Where was the patient? And what had happened? Searching for the bed and the patient in the ambulance was difficult as the back was full of plants not patients! Proving that visible signage #plantstotherescue is very apt. NPWW Ambulance LR An ambulance brings #plantstotherescue for National Plants at Work Week 2023 This is how National Plants at Work Week opened in 2023. The brainchild of plants@work ambassador Ian Drummond confirmed, “The ambulance felt like the perfect tool to confirm the importance of plants to our health and wellbeing. Ian at the ambulance lr Ian Drummond of Ian Drummond Botancia Designs who dressed the Ambulance “Research over many years has shown that plants improve our moods and reduce stress levels and generally help our work flow. They can stimulate and improve our performance and concentration plus they lessen noise around us by deflecting and diffracting sound.” Shirley Smith of Botanica Nurseries who has several clients in the business park and looks after their plant installations with the same care as doctors and their patients, commented, “Plants make us more productive and help our creativity as well as reduce our stress levels.” James and Shirley 2 LR James and Shirley Smith of Botanica Nurseries who supplied the plants and helped dress the ambulance Ian added, “The ambulance is a great symbol to show how we should respect the work that plants do for us in the same way as we respect the National Health Service including ambulance crews.” Inside the ambulance LR From 10 – 14 July we will be celebrating the positive benefits of having plants in the workplace. Plants@work members will support this event with stories on the web using the hashtags #plantsatworkweek and #plantstotherescue. Find more information on our website and our social media sites. We hope you’ll join us to celebrate this special week. ends Editor's notes Ian Drummond is a renowned award-winning botanical designer and author of At Home With Plants. A regular contributor to many publications, such as Living Etc magazine, Ian has won multiple awards at Chelsea Flower Show and trade awards. With a client list that includes The Elton John Aids Foundation, London Fashion Week, Bafta, Harrods and Warner Bros., Ian Drummond Botanical Design is in hot demand for design work, planting schemes and events. Botanica Nurseries has been installing and maintaining interior and exterior plant displays for over 35 years. They have worked on the last two National Plants at Work Week installations, supplying space, plants and containers as well as helping with the set up. This year their contact with the Oxford Business Park enabled us to use their space for our Ambulance display. So it’s literally Botanica Nurseries to the rescue!If you like this, please subscribe! Please register for our newsletter on our website https://journalofbiophilicdesign.com/podcasts-journal-of-biophilic-design Credits: with thanks to George Harvey Audio Production for the calming biophilic soundscape that backs all our podcasts. Did you know our podcast is also on Audible, Amazon Music, Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, Stitcher, vurbl, podbay, podtail, and most if not all the RSS feeds? Facebook https://www.facebook.com/journalofbiophilicdesign/ Twitter https://twitter.com/JofBiophilicDsn LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/company/journalofbiophilicdesign/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/journalofbiophilicdesign
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A new pioneering research study proves that there is definitely a business case for introducing Biophilic Design into a Workplace. The findings of this study shows an incredible 200% increase in well-being and environmental value compared to a normal workspace! The research was carried out at PLP Offices over the course of 8 weeks. The researchers monitored the participants daily work during three distinct environment scenarios: a controlled space (with no plants), a second space with some planting, and a third space with lots of plants. They monitored participants through qualitative (questionnaires, interviews, journaling with diaries) and quantitative means (air quality, VOC, CO2, temperature, humidity, light, heart rate, steps, sleep quality, noise level, brainwaves). The results are further proof that introducing plants into an office space really makes a difference to employee wellbeing, healthy, productivity, and a business’ bottom line.
In this podcast, we speak with Adrian Byne, MD of Benholm Group who supported the research, providing plants and also who will be hosting an event on 28th September 2023 in their Falkirk offices for designers to explore the results with the researchers and network and discuss what makes a good biophilically designed workplace. The link to the research here: https://www.benholm.com/research-study-the-value-of-biophilic-design-follow-up-interview/
EVENT - Reap what you Sow 28th September 023
At the in person event in Scotland later in the year, we will be sitting down with PLP, Benholm and the researchers Professor Derek Clements-Croome and Joyce Chan-Schoof with a live audience drilling down into the process and the further application of the research. If you are a designer or specifier and would like to come along let us know, register your interest here: https://www.benholm.com/reap-what-you-sow-live-event-form/ 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘣𝘪𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘢 𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯. 𝘐𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘴.
Adrian in this podcast makes an impassioned plea: “Plants in an office should be for everybody. They shouldn’t be seen as a luxury or optional extra.”
Adrian also gives us some advice on retrofitting plants and Biophilic Design into a workplace. For instance, natural light is really important, look at what is already in the space, can you expose the timber, can you bring in natural wood furniture? He also says that it is important to call on an expert, especially when bringing in planting, for example you need to make sure containers are big enough for the root-space, that they need to be water-tight, where to position plants in terms of lighting etc.
If you are a designer listening to this, try and introduce your client to the benefits of bringing Biophilic Design right at the beginning of a new building design, right from the ground up as it were. If you can build planting into the fabric of the building, it makes everything easier, from the water supply to aligning natural light and so on. If you are retrofitting Biophilic Design, of course, there is so much you can do too. Just looking at this research project, they created a fully immersive experience in that space as a retro-fit.
We also talk about Dr Wolverton’s report from NASA https://spinoff.nasa.gov/Spinoff2019/cg_7.html , and how air cleaning takes place in the root space of the plants, toxins in the air are cleaned in the root-space of plant.
Adrian encourages designers not to go down the artificial route, but to use real plants where they can. “Live plants are the best for us. Use them if you possibly can, they have all these added benefits, if you have to use artificial, make sure they look really real, people should be wanting to water artificial plants.”
Live planting really does something for you which this research shows.
A few notes on the research: Collaborators in the study are Sustainability Lead at House of Commons and PhD Researcher, Joyce Chan-Schoof, PLP Architecture and their in-house research and development team PLP Labs, Biophilic Design Consultant Alexander Bond, and lecturer, author and expert in multisensory design, Professor Derek Clements-Croome. Together we will measure indoor environmental quality objective data throughout the testing period, and participants will complete questionnaires after each scenario change.
For more information on Benholm visit https://www.benholm.com
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE EVENT:
This open discussion will provide a golden opportunity put your questions to the authors and gain valuable insights on how biophilic design can enhance your projects from a wellbeing, sustainability and financial perspective.
In addition to the invaluable insights you’ll gain from our experts, you’ll also have the opportunity to:
🤝Expand Your Network: Connect with like-minded professionals and industry leaders who share a curiosity for biophilic design, fostering collaboration and opening doors to new opportunities.
🌱Delve into BENHOLM’S lush greenhouse: See where our remarkable biophilic creations come to life and witness the craftsmanship and artistry behind our awe-inspiring designs.
🍾Enjoy some TLC: To keep your creative energy flowing, they’ll be providing a complimentary lunch, nibbles, and drinks throughout the event, followed by a champagne reception at the end of the day.
Reap What You Sow LIVE will take place at Benholm’s picturesque headquarters on the 𝟮𝟴𝘁𝗵 𝗼𝗳 𝗦𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝟬𝟵:𝟯𝟬𝗮𝗺 𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗹 𝟱:𝟯𝟬𝗽𝗺. To ensure easy and convenient access for all attendees, they will be running a shuttle service to and from Polmont train station.
Would you like to attend? This exclusive event is free, but spaces are extremely limited. If you or a member of your team would like the chance to secure a spot on the guest list, register your interest here: https://lnkd.in/dFdgxH7sFor the research visit: https://www.benholm.com/research-study-the-value-of-biophilic-design-follow-up-interview/
Plus there is an article on the research in the 5th Issue of the Journal of Biophilic Design, Creativity.
Also before you go, do check out this case study - https://www.benholm.com/rose-street-garden-edinburgh/ which shows how you could use flowers and planting to support your business branding too.
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Have you got a copy of our Cities issue of The Journal of Biophilic Design (you can purchase a copy directly from us at the journalofbiophilicdesign.com or Amazon. To buy a copy of The Journal of Biophilic Design visit our website
www.journalofbiophilicdesign.com or from Amazon. If you like our podcast and would like to support us in some way, you can buy us a coffee if you’d like to, thank you x
Credits: with thanks to George Harvey Audio Production for the calming biophilic soundscape that backs all our podcasts.
Did you know our podcast is also on Audible, Amazon Music, Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, Stitcher, vurbl, podbay, podtail, and most if not all the RSS feeds?
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/journalofbiophilicdesign/
Twitter https://twitter.com/JofBiophilicDsn
LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/company/journalofbiophilicdesign/
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It seems that in the 21st century we have even more challenges, from tackling climate change and biodiversity decline to an ageing population. Dr Wei Yang, influential thought-leader and a powerful advocate for climate action and nature-based solutions, advocates a people centric approach to community and environment. It is fundamental to create a balanced system for people, nature and society to exist in harmony. When we are dealing with so many different complex issues, we need to take a simple approach, with the main focus being that without nature we cannot survive. We need a mindset change when it comes to civic planning especially.
As human beings we have taken from nature and not given back to nature, and Dr Yang argues, as the Garden City Principle celebrates, we are missing a trick. There is a misunderstanding of garden cities. When we say “garden cities” people think, lots of trees. But it is a sophisticated, yet simple, social economic model. Using a land value capture model. Through development the land value increases and that can be captured providing social economic support to the community.
Dr Yang discusses how state run Social welfare can be a very top down approach and not necessarily what the community needs and there is a frustration in general with the Town Planning profession. Dr Yang opens our eyes to the fact that planning is in fact multi-disciplinary, not only is it an applied science discipline but it is also an art discipline. This highly sophisticated profession cuts across so many different disciplines, but, she argues, we need to ensure we maintain compassion and selflessness when we are planning our towns and cities. In fact, town Planners should be Doctors for Mother Earth
“As planners we can ensure we bring the beauty of nature and wildlife corridors into cities. At the moment, our approach to Cities, is almost like they are cancers, solid concrete blocks. That’s why we have so many troubles, mental and physical health issues, if we do bring nature in, we can treat the whole environment in a totally different way.”
She tells us about the first garden city Letchworth which used that approach, and we can see that the city is thriving. There is connectivity to local agricultural land. It is called a “Garden city” not referring to the “gardens” as in our households, but the agricultural belt, and of course this relates to local food production.
Dr Yang also discusses the 15-minute walkable neighbourhood, and says in the 21st Century garden city you have that walkability from your house to work on a daily basis bedded into the very fabric of the city design. The Garden City is a social network, they are Social Cities.
Milton Keynes example uses garden principle on a larger scale with flood attenuation and wildlife corridors. The parks Trust, manage the land using the land value capture model to look after the green space. About ¼ of the land is green. The city generates income from the premises on the land and they use this income to look after the green space professionally. Self-sustaining. We need this long-term integrated approach when it comes to town planning.
Accessibility to green space affects our behaviour and physical and mental wellbeing. Generally expensive areas are leafy, but Green space is important to everyone. If we remember the pioneer Octavia Hill who helped protect green spaces for those from disadvantaged backgrounds to enjoy green space. It should be accessible to everyone and we should continue this in town planning. 74% of children only play outside. When you compare this to Prisoners who by law have to have at least 1 hour a day outside, children have less freedom than prisoners! If we want the next generation to protect nature we need them to understand it, otherwise they won’t. Let’s bring garden cities right to someone’s doorstep, improve biodiversity, and also improve the porosity of the earth. Let’s have a Place-based approach, work with different professions and maintain a multidisciplinary approach
Nothing is more powerful than nature. There are no age or gender differences in planning, if we believe something we can just work on it and we can all achieve something collectively…
Dr Yang is an influential thought leader and a powerful advocate for climate action, nature-based solutions, health and well-being, and social equality. Wei was named as a Net Zero Hero by Digital Leaders in 2022.
https://www.weiyangandpartners.co.uk/about/team/dr-wei-yang
To buy a copy of The Journal of Biophilic Design visit our website
www.journalofbiophilicdesign.com or from Amazon. If you like our podcast and would like to support us in some way, you can buy us a coffee if you’d like to, thank you x
Credits: with thanks to George Harvey Audio Production for the calming biophilic soundscape that backs all our podcasts.
Did you know our podcast is also on Audible, Amazon Music, Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, Stitcher, vurbl, podbay, podtail, and most if not all the RSS feeds?
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/journalofbiophilicdesign/
Twitter https://twitter.com/JofBiophilicDsn
LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/company/journalofbiophilicdesign/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/journalofbiophilicdesign
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Sustainability matters, it is a matter of survival. For Carlo Battisti, President at Living Future Europe this is essential. We cannot design or build without considering this.
We already know the solutions, we need to implement them.
Carlo co-founded the Biophilic Society and coordinates LFE biophilic design strategy. “There are so many global issues to solve, our responsibility must start from the built environment, we know that 40% of emissions come from built environment and these have an impact on global issues.”
Each time we build, we start from scratch which means it’s difficult to standardise the processes, also the sector is so slow to change, but the built environment shapes the way we are living.
Carlo tells us about his experience and also about the Living Building challenge framework which was developed in 2006. We are now at the 4th version of the standard which was published in 2019. Biophilic Design has always been a core part of this framework. If we design and build with a better connection to nature, using natural light, better airflow, etc, there will be better energy consumption, greater energy efficiency. Also of course, there are lots of studies which show that bringing sufficient daylight into enclosed spaces, for instance in schools or hospitals, patients recover quicker, students learn faster in classrooms. There is such interesting and robust data.
The Biophilic Summit is taking place on 7th June 2023. The details of the summit programme and how to register can be found here: https://lfeurope.regfox.com/biophilia-summit-2023
Our editor, Dr Vanessa Champion will be moderating the Round table at the close of the event. Also speaking at the event will be two Stephen R. Kellert award winners from 2022 and 2023. The designers of the Railway station in Japan, JR Jumamoto Railway Station (2022 winner). Also the architect who worked on the school in the Netherlands, De Verwondering which won the SKBDA 2023 both European and the Global category. Check out the SKBDA 2023 Europe finalists videos (link on the JBD website too).
Do have a look at the Biophilic Society, which, Carlo describes as a living system of passionate people all over the world, meeting once a month, looking at best practice, etc. https://www.living-future.eu/biophilic-society/
Some helpful links:
Living Future Europe https://www.living-future.eu/
Biophilia Summit 2023 https://lfeurope.regfox.com/biophilia-summit-2023
The Biophilic Society https://www.living-future.eu/biophilic-society/
Sign the Manifesto
Biophilic Design at LFE
Biophilic Design experts (filter by BD)
Biophilia Camp 2022 highlights
Biophilia Camp pre-registration list (22-25 Sep 2023, South Tyrol)
De Verwondering wins the SKBDA 2023
SKBDA 2023 Europe finalists videos
Marion Fire Station Iowa (2023 co-winner)
JR Jumamoto Railway Station (2022 winner)
To buy a copy of The Journal of Biophilic Design visit our website
www.journalofbiophilicdesign.com or from Amazon. If you like our podcast and would like to support us in some way, you can buy us a coffee if you’d like to, thank you x
Credits: with thanks to George Harvey Audio Production for the calming biophilic soundscape that backs all our podcasts.
Did you know our podcast is also on Audible, Amazon Music, Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, Stitcher, vurbl, podbay, podtail, and most if not all the RSS feeds?
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/journalofbiophilicdesign/
Twitter https://twitter.com/JofBiophilicDsn
LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/company/journalofbiophilicdesign/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/journalofbiophilicdesign
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