By Living Room Realty, July 12, 2021
Are you familiar with Biophilic design and architecture?
Biophilic design and architecture focuses on design that bolsters human health and happiness through interwoven natural elements.
It’s also a mild obsession of mine. The term itself and related concepts are relatively new to me, and I stumbled across it all a while back while looking at houses in Bend, OR. I found a home with a live tree growing directly out of the center of the home, and through the roof. Other natural elements included a shower built out of a naturally occurring rock wall. The top floor featured an angled skylight that framed a nearby mountain peak.
The concept was introduced by E.O. Wilson in his book Biophilia (1984). A renowned biologist and Harvard Research Professor Emeritus, Wilson posited that human beings were fundamentally attracted to nature and benefited by emulating its structures and patterns into everyday life including architecture and design.
I would love to see more builders who focus on green building also incorporate elements of nature into our living spaces to help keep us connected to the natural world as we spend less and less time in it.
Biophilic design and architecture can be utilized in both individual buildings and city-scale levels. Although the term itself was formed relatively recently, biophilic design has been seen in architecture and design as far back as the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and beyond.
