Biophilic school architecture in cold climates

2020 ◽  
pp. 1420326X2090830
Author(s):  
Mélanie Watchman ◽  
Claude M. H. Demers ◽  
André Potvin
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Design Research ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Cold Climates ◽  
Design Strategies ◽  
School Architecture ◽  
Biophilic Design ◽  
School Settings

Designing school settings that provide a satisfying experience of nature and enhance well-being could be advantageous for children and teachers, though in cold climates prolonged periods of precipitation, restricted sunshine and low temperatures represent non-ideal conditions for fostering a connection with nature. This paper reviews research into the relationships between principles of biophilic design and well-being, with specific consideration for learning environments in cold climates. Children spend more time in school than any other place, except the home, and most of their learning activities occur indoors. Given the large portion of the day children and teachers spend within the built environment, an architect's perspective investigates these relationships. The paper examines the concepts and research findings that appear to offer the greatest potential for future architectural applications in children's learning environments. It also identifies gaps in biophilic design strategies in relation to schools and the importance of considering climatic conditions to create satisfying experiences of nature within the built environment. If biophilic design research is to lead to healthier, more comfortable school settings that present a greater connection between learning spaces and the natural environment, then to identify and define beneficial guidelines that translate readily into architecture is essential.

In the Moment: Fostering Mindfulness and Reducing Stressors in the Healthcare Workplace

2021 ◽  
pp. 193758672098824
Author(s):  
Shabboo Valipoor ◽  
Sheila J. Bosch
Keyword(s):  
Design Research ◽  
Healthcare Professionals ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Job Dissatisfaction ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Design Strategies ◽  
Environmental Interventions ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Healthcare Settings ◽  
The Moment

While healthcare design research has primarily focused on patient outcomes, there is a growing recognition that environmental interventions could do more by promoting the overall quality of care, and this requires expanding the focus to the health and well-being of those who deliver care to patients. Healthcare professionals are under high levels of stress, leading to burnout, job dissatisfaction, and poor patient care. Among other tools, mindfulness is recommended as a way of decreasing stress and helping workers function at higher levels. This article aims to identify potential environmental strategies for reducing work-related stressors and facilitating mindfulness in healthcare settings. By examining existing evidence on workplace mindfulness and stress-reducing design strategies, we highlight the power of the physical environment in not only alleviating stressful conditions but intentionally encouraging a mindful perspective. Strategies like minimizing distractions or avoiding overstimulation in the healthcare environment can be more effective if implemented along with the provision of designated spaces for mindfulness-based programs. Future research may explore optimal methods and hospital workers’ preferences for environments that support mindfulness and stress management. The long-term goal of all these efforts is to enhance healthcare professionals’ well-being, reignite their professional enthusiasm, and help them be resilient in times of stress.

Biophilic Design

2022 ◽  
pp. 46-74
Author(s):  
Gamze Satılmış ◽  
Özge Yalçıner Ercoşkun
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Built Environment ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Natural Habitat ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Biophilic Design ◽  
High Rise ◽  
Social Environmental

Humans by nature need contact with nature for their physical and mental health, productivity, and well-being. However, the natural habitat of modern humans has become the built environment where they spend most of their time. Unfortunately, most modern buildings and cities are places that are harmful to the environment, disconnected from nature, and estranged. Therefore, the need for biological contact with nature has become increasingly important in high-rise and urbanizing societies. In this context, in this study, the concept of biophilic (healing) design is explained; its physical, social, environmental, and economic benefits are revealed; and its advantages against the most important problems of the 21st century are discussed at different scales. By examining different world examples of biophilic cities and biophilic buildings, a matrix was formed, and biophilic design principles and the benefits used were evaluated. Finally, the difficulties in implementing the biophilic design are mentioned.

scholarly journals Assessing the Implementation of Biophilic Design Strategies in Selected office Buildings in Lagos State, Nigeria

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 292-295
Keyword(s):  
Natural Environment ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Design Strategy ◽  
Office Buildings ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Design Strategies ◽  
Biophilic Design ◽  
Lagos State

With the ever-increasing rate of urbanization and organisations opting to discard biophilic designs for minimalist designs at the detriment of productivity, the natural environment has been cast-off as a critical feature in determining the quality of human life. It has been discovered that there is an innate desire for human beings to connect with nature, which is being described as biophilia. Thus, organisations are seeking innovative measures of integrating the natural environment into the workplace as it has been proven to enhance well-being and productivity while saving cost. The study area, Lagos state is a densely populated city whose rise in population has been poorly managed with increasing pollution levels that reduce the quality of life, which is why it is imperative for organisations to create a sustainable environment that enhances work activities. To this end, this study seeks to evaluate the implementation of biophilic design strategies in selected office buildings in Lagos, Nigeria. Data is obtained using questionnaires and analysed using both content analysis for qualitative data and descriptive statistics for quantitative data. Purposive sampling was used to select the buildings that were studied while the respondents were selected by means of the stratified sampling technique. The findings reveal that daylight is the most implemented biophilic design strategy. The benefits of biophilic integration have been reviewed, as well as areas for future research. With more attention being placed on conducive workplace environment this research helps to ascertain the most utilized biophilic design strategy and how it can be easily incorporated in buildings.

scholarly journals Where can I cry?: Providing for Emotionality in the Built Environment

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Claire Ford
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Emotional Expression ◽  
Architectural Design ◽  
Design Research ◽  
Multiple Scales ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Body ◽  
Urban Life ◽  
Emotional Wellbeing ◽  
Design Experiments

<p>Increasingly, research suggests that urban life is characterised by rising levels of distress (Söderström, 2017). We exist in a melee of social, political, cultural and environmental constructs, many of which require individuals to repress emotional expression and experiences. Without consciously doing so, we take cues from the designed environment as to what behaviours should be acted out in that space, and this has a direct impact on our well-being. This thesis explores how the built environment can be designed to support the emotional wellbeing of its occupants.  Current practice addressing well-being predominantly looks at cases of severe mental dysfunction (Söderström, 2017) or designing spaces that privilege physical concerns (Jencks & Heathcote, 2010). The research in this thesis is not directed towards such extreme instances of distress; it focuses on the capacity of designed environments to emotionally enable and empower all building users, taking into account a broad spectrum of emotional expression and responses to space. To accomplish this, existing literary research on emotional well-being is traversed and used to inform a series of design explorations. These aim to discover how the design of space can enable occupants to feel supported; to live their emotional lives with complete agency. A conceptual framework is developed, drawing on philosophy, psychology, sociology, neurology and geography, which informs architectural design experiments that test relationships between the body, the mind, and the architecture we engaged with.  This thesis involves a speculative approach to design research. Using design experiments at multiple scales, this thesis explores the potential of moments in the built environment where people have strong emotional connections to space, in order that a consciously compassionate design approach may be developed. Four architectural briefs are explored at three scales - installation, domestic and public scale - allowing design to inform the research. Each investigation is successive and becomes a testing ground to evaluate and critique the design outcomes prior to it. The design tests also involve progressively more architectural and interactive complexity. This sequence of design tests explores the potential of spaces to empower an inhabitant in architectural space to experience joy and sadness; to directly associate architecture with emotional well-ness.</p>

Virtual nature, inner forest: Prospects for immersive virtual nature art and well-being

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-146
Author(s):  
Jessica Laraine Williams ◽  
Susannah Langley ◽  
Ann Borda
Keyword(s):  
Design Research ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Psychosocial Health ◽  
The Body ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Positive Health ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Biophilic Design ◽  
Art Practices ◽  
Positive Health Outcomes

Over a number of decades, studies have revealed compelling relationships between experiences of the natural environment and positive health outcomes in adult communities. These psychosocial health benefits have typically been described via key theoretical frameworks in the health sciences, such as the biophilia hypothesis. Despite the body of evidence for nature design and well-being, propositions for immersive virtual nature experiences are still emerging across the fields of creativity and health. In this article, we identify the potential for immersive virtual nature art as a creative well-being intervention, articulated through a discussion of background literature and concepts leading to the development of our artwork, Inner Forest (2020–21). This article incorporates a transdisciplinary suite of perspectives across three key parts; in the first section, we review key health and design research around beneficial nature experiences, with particular emphasis on designing technological nature. Secondly, we propose considerations for immersive virtual nature experiences, as distinct from prior iterations of technological nature; these considerations are framed through discussion of our artistic and well-being rationale for designing the collaborative artwork Inner Forest. This extended reality (XR) project was developed in response to well-being challenges such as social isolation and restricted nature access- of particular valence during the COVID-19 pandemic. The artwork incorporates multisensory, aesthetic elements drawn from biophilic design guidelineswhich support creative, evidence-based approaches to designed nature and societal health. To conclude this article, we report on prospects for further scaling of the Inner Forest artwork, with ongoing scope to contribute to both nature-health design and immersive virtual nature art practices.

Nature in buildings and health design

2018 ◽  
pp. 247-251
Author(s):  
Stephen R. Kellert
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Healthcare Facilities ◽  
Biophilic Design ◽  
Evolutionary Origins ◽  
Prevailing Paradigm ◽  
Functional Development ◽  
Health And Well Being

This chapter discusses a hypothesized inherent human need to affiliate with nature (‘biophilia’), its continuing importance to human health and well-being, and how to meet this need in modern society through design of the built environment, with particular focus on healthcare facilities. The theory of biophilia is introduced, its evolutionary origins, effects on human health and well-being, and impediments to its functional development in modern society, particularly the prevailing paradigm of design of the built environment. The chapter describes the notion of ‘biophilic design’, the attempt to address biophilia in the modern built environment. Principles and practices of biophilic design are delineated. The chapter concludes with a brief description of examples of biophilia and biophilic design in existing healthcare facilities.

scholarly journals Reconnecting Children with Nature: Biophilic Junior Level Learning Environment Design

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Emma Woodward
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Environment Design ◽  
Primary School Teachers ◽  
Design Elements ◽  
Biophilic Design ◽  
Quantitative And Qualitative Research ◽  
Learning Environment Design

<p>More than half of all humanity now live in urban centres. In westerns counties generally at least 80% of people’s time is spent indoors. This means that people are spending less time outside and in places that can be considered ‘nature’. This is problematic because quantitative and qualitative research shows that isolation from the natural world negatively affects human well-being, suggesting that it is essential that nature is a constant part of humans’ lives. This ‘nature deficit’ also impacts the development of personal bonds with nature which relates to learning to value and protect nature, and particularly affects young children. As children grow up in environments increasingly removed from nature, how will children form personal bonds with the living world if they spend their key developmental years removed from it? To address this issue, this design-led research asks: how can we reconnect children with nature using biophilic design in junior level learning environments? This question was explored through design-led research methodologies, primarily using an iterative design process, a ‘triangulation’ approach to research, and two sets of user-based interrogative research. This included a workshop with children aged 5-7 and a New Zealand primary school teachers’ survey. These were conducted to gain insight into user opinions and preferences. Observations, discussions and results were combined and compared with related literature and initial design testing, and then refined into a set of key design elements (see chapter 8.0). These elements were found to be critical in creating well-functioning learning environments that offer biophilic potentials to improve learning, and directly appeal to the users. These elements were tested, developed, and refined through the design of a block of junior level classrooms, in Wellington, New Zealand. Design explorations resulted in a proposed spatial solution that encourages children to interact with and experience nature on a regular basis, with the intention of stimulating the development of a personal bond with and value for the natural world.</p>

scholarly journals Biophilic Design Applications: Putting Theory and Patterns into Built Environment Practice

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Downton ◽  
David Jones ◽  
Josh Zeunert ◽  
Phillip Roös
Keyword(s):  
Biological Sciences ◽  
Built Environment ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Design Strategy ◽  
Environment Design ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Biophilic Design ◽  
Health And Wellbeing ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Health And Well Being

<p>In 1984 E.O. Wilson (1984) introduced and popularized the <em>Biophilia</em> hypothesis defining <em>biophilia</em> as "the urge to affiliate with other forms of life" (Kellert &amp; Wilson 1995: 416).<sup>  </sup>Wilson’s <em>biophilia</em> hypothesis suggests that there is an instinctivebond between human beings and other living systems.  More recently, in the USA, Browning <em>et al</em> (2014) have proposed ‘14 Patterns of Biophilic Design’ within a framework for linking the human biological sciences and nature to built environment design offering a series of tools for enriching design opportunities, and avenues for design applications as a way to effectively enhance the health and well-being of individuals and society.  While <em>biophilia</em> is the theory, <em>biophilic design</em> as advocated by Kellert <em>et al</em> (2008) and Beatley (2010) internationally offers a sustainable design strategy that seeks to reconnect people with the ‘natural environment’.  Overall, from what little research has been undertaken internationally in the last 10 years, there is a solid understanding as to the applied application of this theory, its principles and processes to built environment design and no research about to how to retrofit the existing urban fabric using this approach.  This paper reviews the application of <em>biophilic design</em> in Australia, including the scope of design, health and wellbeing literature, the ‘14 Patterns of Biophilic Design’ and performative measures now unfolding, brings forward a new <em>Biophilic Design</em> Pattern, and considers the value the approach offers to built environment practice as well as to human and non-human occupants.</p>

scholarly journals Architecture without barriers: designing inclusive environments accessible to all

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hong-Li Wong
Keyword(s):  
Social Interaction ◽  
Built Environment ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Sensory Experience ◽  
Social Aspects ◽  
Inclusive Design ◽  
Design Strategies ◽  
Disability Rate ◽  
Full Participation ◽  
Changing Demographics

In Canada, studies show there are changing demographics increasing the population, the disability rate, and the aging population. This significantly impacts people and their interactions within the built environment. Currently, there are many buildings meeting minimum accessibility standards, though they continuously create poorly designed and inaccessible buildings to all. Thus, integrating Inclusive Design (ID) allows for full participation within society. This prevents discrimination and stigmatization. ID is an intervention respecting differences, associated with gender, race, religion, as well as age and ability, by accommodating diverse needs of various groups of people. This approach incorporates three design strategies, including visual, nonvisual, and social aspects enhancing the concept of ID. They are accessible experience while traversing in architecture as communication, responsive and adaptable environment through multi-sensory experience, and secure architecture for social interaction. As a result, an inclusive environment is created addressing equity and equality, which benefit everyone enhancing self-dignity, independence, and well-being.

scholarly journals Do Green Building Standards Meet the Biophilic Design Strategies?

2020 ◽  
pp. 5-23
Author(s):  
Beyza Sat Gungor
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Energy Saving ◽  
Natural Ventilation ◽  
Green Building ◽  
Design Strategies ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Important Place ◽  
Biophilic Design ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Human Wellbeing

Energy efficiency in buildings, comprises many things as mitigation effect of global warming and climate change, decreasing heat island effect in the built environment and also conservation of natural resources. Besides as a new phenomenon we should add biophilic design criteria to the green building tools to increase human productivity by considering human wellbeing. Biophilic design, which inspired by nature, is a new juvenile design concept that gains importance day by day because of its positive effects on human wellbeing mood and relatedly human productivity. Here some conflicts can be occurred between energy saving and human wellbeing; as natural ventilation and energy saving. Biophilic design comprises inherent human inclination to affiliate with nature. All sensations which help to be in contact with natural components as daylight, plants or some animal species like birds; plants occupy an important place in its definition. Biophilic design seeks to create good habitat for people as a biological organism in the modern built environment that promotes people’s health, fitness and wellbeing. Scientific studies reveal that contact with nature has significant effects on people’s physical and mental health, performance and wellbeing. This phenomenon has, an increasing importance more than ever before, especially in daily life. The need for beneficial contact with nature continues in today’s built environment. This paper aims to determine whether the biophilic design strategies are match with green building tools that mostly targeting energy saving in built environment. Also paper handling whether the 14 biophilic design patterns are match with 3 main mind-body systems that are; stress reduction, cognitive performance and emotion mood preference.

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