Optima Biltmore Towers

The term ‘biophilia’ popularized by E.O. Wilson, specifically meaning “the love of life”, describes how humans are hard-wired to need a connection with nature and other forms of life. Our relationship with nature as humans is fundamental and deepens to our roots, however, why do we continue to design cities and suburbs, even our homes, that both degrade the environment and estrange us from nature?

How can we bridge this disconnect between our built environment and the natural world? As interior designers, we have the responsibility to create spaces that emulate a sense of wellness and balance. Biophilic design fosters emotional attachments to settings and places. The importance of restorative environments, which has been accelerated by heavily populated urban environments and the current global events, is compelling.

Designing beautiful and restorative spaces include, not only the visual responsiveness, but can include all the human senses. A study from the University of Oregon identified that we respond to fractal features (self-repeating patterns) in nature which activate brain waves vital for sensory perception and integration, while promoting a calm mental state.

Biophilic design is an innovative way of designing the places where we live, work and learn. Biomorphism models artistic design elements on naturally occurring patterns or shapes reminiscent of nature and living organisms. Biomorphic design bases its shape on human and animal form, taking shape from mother nature herself. Including biophilic and biomorphic design in our built interior environment is essential to maintaining mental health and enhancing positive thought.

Biophilic and biomorphic design can reduce stress and enhance creativity or clarity of thought. It also improves our wellbeing and expedites healing. As our world population continues to grow and the earth becomes even more urbanized, these qualities are ever more important.

Some strategies of how to include biophilic and biomorphic design into our spaces are organized in  Terrapin’s 14 Biophilic Patterns:

Nature in the Space Patterns:

• Visual Connection with Nature
• Non-Visual Connection with Nature
• Non-Rhythmic Sensory Stimuli
• Thermal & Airflow Variability
• Presence of Water
• Dynamic & Diffuse Light
• Connection with Natural Systems
• Natural Analogues Patterns:
• Biomorphic Forms & Patterns
• Material Connection with Nature
• Complexity & Order
• Nature of the Space Patterns:
• Prospect
• Refuge
• Mystery

Risk/Peril

In this Southern California home, Kim helped to design the space for a recently divorced man with an intention of helping him create a home for his new single lifestyle with room for his future soulmate. In this ‘Biophilic Bachelor Pad,’ the goal was to create a sophisticated “man-cave” where a woman would feel at home! Here the La Cantina doors bring the outdoors in, creating a relationship within the space and natural world. The La Cantina doors, which take the place of two walls, successfully emulates the concept of biophilic design.

One of the patterns and strategies, refuge  - creating a safe and comfortable intimate place is created within the atmosphere at the ‘Biophilic Bachelor Pad’ where anyone can walk in and feel cozy and invited. It also emphasizes the pattern and strategy, visual connection to nature along with thermal and airflow variability. The greenery outside mimics that of a wallpaper, or art, as the La Cantina walls help bridge that connection, bringing nature in from the garden.

The ‘La Jolla Contemporary Retreat’, below, an almost new-build, with additions and extensive renovations, includes strong design attributions that mimic patterns found in nature. This biomimicry can be found in the backsplash of the built-in bar, showing a natural geode pattern in a book match pattern, and the tile on the main fireplace surround mirrors an ancient wood, called kauri wood from New Zealand, connecting the owners with their love of travel to this part of the world. These natural elements create a relationship between not only the design of the home and nature, but also helps maintain a positive atmosphere for the individuals who inhabit it. The patterns displayed mirror biomorphic forms and patterns while devising a sense of mystery in the design.  

In another extensive renovation project, the ‘Entertainment Chef Kitchen and Lounge Bar,’ Kim covered the old windows, which were lacking in view and optimal solar orientation,  with botanical-themed eco resin sheets to create a soft diffused pattern lit up by daylight.  This design helps incorporate more light into the room as well as creates a biomimetic pattern.

“Biomimicry is innovation inspired by nature. In a society accustomed to dominating or 'improving' nature, this respectful imitation is a radically new approach, a revolution really. Unlike the Industrial Revolution, the Biomimicry Revolution introduces an era based not on what we can extract from nature, but on what we can learn from her.”

― Janine Benyus

So how can we enhance the client’s experience as well as feel more connected to nature through design? Natural strategies like harnessing daylight and ventilation are crucial for successful biophilic design. Biophilic design ideas can build mindful and harmonious environments with furniture modeling nature’s forms and through innovative technologies to support the body’s natural circadian rhythms. Some examples of biophilic design for Southern California are the importance of providing views and vistas to the natural outdoors, like designing an outdoor living space and garden to admire from a cozy spot indoors, and arranging furniture groupings, finishes and materials in both outdoor and indoor spaces to create a natural flow and connection to the natural outdoors.

To gain inspiration on how to design your community with biophilic and biomorphic design, projects such as the Park Royal Tower in Singapore and Renzo Piano’s Tjibaou Cultural Center are great examples of blending the natural world with our built one. This project is a perfect example of Terrapin’s Biophlic pattern, connection with natural systems.

Park Royal Tower in Singapore hosts twice as much greenery as the nearby Hong Lim Park and boasts a whopping 15,000 square meters of green space. It is also overrun with vertical gardens, contoured green pathways, water features, and leafy terraces all while planted with a variety of plant species that scrub the air clean of any emissions produced there. It is also almost completely self-sustaining with a rainwater harvesting system that ensures no new water will be used to irrigate the green spaces. Overall the environmental impact is mitigated by the extensive planting and kept to a minimum with pre-fabricated parts and open sides that promote natural lighting and ventilation throughout the building.

Renzo Piano’s Tjibaou Cultural Center is originally inspired by the design of Kanak chiefs’ houses and is intended to resemble their traditional architecture. The form of the shells is a blend of traditional construction methods and a tapered, dematerializing profile plays and reflects off the texture of surrounding trees. The exterior voids in the buildings are physically open to the site, deepening the inhabitants’ sense of place. There is also an intelligent passive ventilation system, removing the need for air conditioning and making the buildings clean, natural air supply an experiential part of the design.

Renzo Piano’s project also mimics an incredible amount of biophilic strategies and patterns, showing how simple and beautiful it is to use these patterns and strategies within our homes. The Tjibaou Cultural Center creates thermal and airflow variability and creates a connection of the natural systems through the open air structure. The structure will also create an effect of light to bend, the strategy using dynamic and diffuse light.  

Instead of a trend, think of biophilic design as a progressive movement of material and product innovation, a transformation in interior design and architecture that is deeply felt and built-in collaboration with nature.

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