Biophilic Design Principles to Transform Your Space

Biophilic Design Principles to Transform Your Space

Posted by Lucia Abuin on 11th Feb 2021

Biophilia is the intrinsic human inclination to relate to nature and all living beings. Even in a modern world, full of concrete, technology and jam-packed cities, biophilia is critical to people’s physical and mental wellbeing. In fact, several scientific studies show that continued exposure to nature reduces stress, improves creativity and clarity of thought, lowers blood pressure, provides pain relief, improves illness recovery, accelerates healing, enhances staff morale and performance, and leads to fewer conflicts with your peers and those around you.

Here is when biophilic design comes into play: trying to bridge the gap between modern living and every day contact with nature. It addresses the deficiencies of contemporary building and landscape practice by integrating nature into your everyday environment in a way that is sustainable over time. 

To successfully integrate biophilic design into your life and reap its benefits, there are certain principles that need to be followed. 

Visual connection with nature


Immerse your space in plants and natural elements and aim to make a visual connection with them for at least 5-20 minutes a day. These elements can be anything from trees, plant arrangements, moss walls, or even bodies of water. The important thing is that they are visually accessible in order for you to receive all the benefits mentioned above. An easy way to achieve this would be filling your work space or any room where you spend a lot of time in with different kinds of plants. Find our tabletop arrangements and floor plants at our online store, and make your own biophilic space. 

Non-visual connection with nature


The point of this principle is to integrate non-visual, natural elements to a space. This can be achieved through sounds, scents or touchable natural elements, such as moss. These senses can be experienced separately, but their benefits increase when they are experienced in unison. To reap the benefits of this principle, consider incorporating natural scents into your home, like our Biophilia Home Fragrance or Biophilia candle. If you want to incorporate several senses into your experience, you can also use one of our Magic Boxes which include visual and energetic elements like crystals and palo santo, which will give an earthy scent to your space, among other natural components.

Presence of water


This principle is about enhancing one’s experience through the seeing, hearing and touching of water. The presence of water provokes positive emotional responses, like reduced stress, increased feelings of tranquility, and lowering blood pressure. To enjoy the benefits of this biophilic principle you can play water sounds in your space, build an aquarium or fountain or, simply, have images of bodies of water in your space. At Plant The Future’s Gallery we have a beautiful river that flows alongside it, in addition to water fountains, making this space soothing and peaceful. Schedule a visit and get lost in the tranquility of our space. 

 Dynamic & diffused light


The idea behind this principle is to recreate varying intensities of light and shadow naturally occurring in nature in your biophilic design. These changes in light evoke feelings of drama and intrigue, buffered with a sense of calm. The best way to incorporate this into your life would be using ambient diffused lighting on walls and ceilings, plus mixing different types of light delivery systems throughout a space.  Use natural light coming from windows and compliment with lamps and mirrors to give brightness to your home. This will elevate your mood, help you focus and improve your sleep. However, you don’t necessarily have to install tons of different lights around the house; you can also use floor plants, to give shade and reflect light in different ways inside a room.

Biomorphic forms and patterns


Another element that will elevate your biophilic design is including symbolic references in the form of patterns, textures, shapes and numerical arrangements that persist in nature. These tend to be not only interesting and captivating, but also contemplative and even absorptive. The way to introduce these into your home décor would be to use fabrics, carpets, or wallpaper designs based on the Golden Mean or Fibonacci series, for example. You can incorporate woodwork around your house, or masonry that takes shape after things that are present in the wild. Our beautiful animal design planters will bring nature into your home, while making you feel relaxed and enhancing your cognitive performance. If you desire something more earthy our Moss Chandelier might be more your style, or even our stunning natural wood bowl arrangements.

Material connection with nature

Incorporate materials and elements from nature that, through minimal processing, reflect the local ecology and geology to create a distinct sense of place. If we wanted to create a Miami inspired Biophilic Design for our home, we would incorporate shells, natural white sand, or maybe even create a pond with natural elements that resemble the Everglades. This gives any space a rich, warm and authentic feel. Other ways that can achieve this would be to include rattan, bamboo, leather, or even a natural color palette. Researchers have observed that a room with a 45% wood ratio, decreases blood pressure and pulse rate. In this case, our moss arrangements are perfect additions to your space, since they bring a sense of calmness to a space, and even stimulate touch.

Refuge


A refuge is a place for withdrawal, where the individual is protected from behind and overhead, giving them a sense of safety and comfort. A perfect way to do this is having a space that feels separate or unique from its surroundings where you can retreat, preferably covered with plants to receive more benefits from it. At Plant the Future, we build custom moss caves for spaces, which serve as a relaxing place to meditate, read, or simply enjoy.  You can also include pieces of botanical art that will make the space more distinct.

If you want to incorporate these biophilic design principles into your home or business for a better quality of life, we want to invite you to visit our gallery, where you will find beautiful plant arrangements and botanical art. You can schedule a gallery appointment with one of our team members for customized plant recommendations for your space. You may also contact our design studio for biophilic design projects. We collaborate with interior designers, architects, and developers to bring biophilic design to homes, hotels, offices, restaurants, retail stores, and many other spaces.