What Is Biophilic Design?
Last Updated: Mar 28, 2025Under normal circumstances, most of us are accustomed to commuting to and from our places of work. These workplaces often surround us with cement, drywall, computer screens, and phones. So, many of us have developed the routine of stopping at a park or other natural area during our commute back home. Once home, we again find ourselves surrounded by the comforts and commodities that separate us from the natural world. Those brief retreats into the natural world, short moments where we can hear the birds sing to the setting sun and the chorus of frogs and other amphibians welcoming the advancing night, are strangely soothing and reinvigorate us.
Unfortunately, the primary considerations that architects and builders consider when designing and fashioning a structure are related to issues that revolve around human comfort and the "livability" of spaces. Sustainable architecture incorporates elements of energetic efficiency and carbon footprint reduction in homes. Unfortunately, many supposedly sustainable homes resemble the anthropocentric bias of edifices that disconnect us from the natural world around us.
Table of Contents
- What is Biophilia?
- What is Biophilic Design?
- What Are the Health Benefits of Biophilic Design?
- Is Biophilic Design Sustainable?
- Three Tips for Biophilic Design
- How to Incorporate Biophilic Design Into Your Home
What is Biophilia?
In 1984, Edward Wilson wrote his seminal work, "Biophilia." In his book, he proposed that humans have a natural, perhaps even evolutionary, tendency to affiliate with the natural world. The biophilia hypothesis suggests that human beings subconsciously seek a deeper connection to all that is alive and natural. Those relaxing and therapeutic respites at the nature park you pass by on your commute home, then, might very well be some more profound evolutionary urge to reconnect to the natural world around us.
The findings of a 2009 study by the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health were stark. They found that human-constructed spaces entirely divorced from the natural world can act as a "discord" with potentially damaging psychological and even physical health effects. A 2014 UN report stated that by the year 2050, two out of every three people would live in urban spaces. Most of these spaces will resemble the worst aspects of urban sprawl and slums that have little, if any, connection to the natural world.
Besides the health and quality of life considerations associated with a complete lack of direct contact with the natural world upon which we depend for our survival, it is increasingly difficult to imagine meaningful conservation efforts by a population that doesn't have a contact relationship with the natural world. The fight against global climate change, biodiversity loss, species extinction, and other severe ecological concerns is much more conceivable and plausible when people directly connect to those they want to protect.
What is Biophilic Design?
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) states that the average person spends close to 90% of their time indoors, both at home and work. With so much time spent inside the confines of walls and roofs, biophilic design is concerned with finding ways to reconnect people with the natural environment through the design of edifices and how they incorporate elements of nature into the building itself.
Whereas green architecture is more associated with reducing construction's environmental impact, biophilic design goes further. It aims to provide for our innate need to stay connected to the natural world. Biophilic design brings parts of the natural world into buildings. It allows for more natural light to illuminate indoor spaces, offers nature, plants, and animals views from our windows, and incorporates natural patterns, textures, and materials into a building's overall structure. In doing so, biophilic architecture allows those who spend their time in buildings to increase their connection to the natural world.
What Are the Health Benefits of Biophilic Design?
Research has revealed that biophilic design leads to numerous positive health benefits. Catie Ryan, Director of Projects at Terrapin and biophilic design leader, observed a 37% improvement in mental health from audible stimuli such as sounds of nature versus common urban noise after stressor exposure. Another study found that adding plants in interior spaces reduced stress and increased pain tolerance. The sites and sound of water were restorative, and incorporating nature views is also mentally restorative for occupants.
Is Biophilic Design Sustainable?
Biophilic design has been found to manage stormwater runoff as there are fewer imperviable surfaces and better infiltration. Biophilic design increases biodiversity while decreases the heat island effect and carbon emissions. This can be accomplished by adding plants, trees, vegetable walls, green roofs, and rain gardens to the built environment, buildings, and cities. Greywater can be utilized to reduce the freshwater reliance that these natural elements require.
Three Tips for Biophilic Design
Biophilic design aims to be much more thorough and comprehensive than simply bringing in a few potted plants to adorn hallways. There are several different techniques to allow the natural world to permeate our living spaces. Below, we offer three ideas for biophilic designs that homeowners, designers, and architects can incorporate into any human-built space.
Large Windows that Look Towards Natural Areas
In most residential areas, the largest windows in a home look towards the street. While this might provide an attractive home façade, the people inside will spend much of their time looking at the road, cars passing by, empty lawns, and other homes. Many homes, however, have a more natural backyard or side yard. Perhaps you have a small tree line dividing your property from that of your neighbors. If that is the case, incorporating large windows that look toward it or the most natural area on your property will allow for a greater connection to the natural world. The visual connection to nature is one of the most critical tenets of biophilic design.
The Importance of Touch
Of course, we experience the natural world through much more than just sight. The materials and fabrics we use in our home can also connect us to the natural world. For example, instead of replacing your old carpet with new carpet, consider incorporating wood flooring or bamboo or cork flooring. Avoid synthetics and plastics and search for natural fibers for your textiles, curtains, and other interior design elements.
How to Incorporate Biophilic Design Into Your Home
Many families do not have regular access to parks or other wild and natural areas due to poor urban planning and the increasing scope of technology over our lives. As a result, small urban grassed regions do not have the same benefit as the unspoiled wilderness that previous generations might have enjoyed as children.
Fortunately, the suggestions listed below for incorporating biophilic design can allow homeowners to bring nature into their homes in virtually any setting.
The Importance of the Sight and Sound of Water
Our bright, blue planet differs from the thousands of other gaseous and rocky planets discovered throughout the Universe. The existence of water on planet Earth is one of the defining characteristics of life. Biophilic design focuses on highlighting our dependence on water by creating water features inside the home.
If you live next to the ocean or a creek, use windows to your advantage to invite the rhythmic sounds of the crashing waves or the soft and steady bubbling of a mountain stream. Interior water fountains use minimal amounts of energy while mimicking water's soothing sounds. Water walls are more extensive and more expensive additions to home interiors. When combined with plants, however, they can transform a home interior into a biophilic refuge.
Tobias Roberts
Tobias runs an agroecology farm and a natural building collective in the mountains of El Salvador. He specializes in earthen construction methods and uses permaculture design methods to integrate structures into the sustainability of the landscape.
