Covid-19 means that the form and purpose of offices is certain to change. The homeworking revolution means that offices must evolve to still be relevant and deliver a return on investment. Could the back-to-nature principles of biophilic design deliver the solution?
But what exactly is biophilic design? What are the benefits of biophilic design in the workplace? What are the risks of biophilic design? This explainer article answers these questions and more.
What is biophilic design?
The pandemic has caused a generational shift in homeworking. What would have taken 10-20 years happened in just six months of lockdown. Homeworking is here to stay and home offices are a convenient (and commute free) space to work.
With less demand for office space, employers can now save costs by moving to smaller and more flexible spaces. This offers a unique opportunity for employers to rethink their office spaces and create something that is both friendlier and more productive. This is where biophilic design comes in.
Explaining biophilic design
Biophilic design involves incorporating the natural world into a built environment.
It is not just about inserting a few planters, but appreciating the connection that humans have with our environment and thinking hard about how someone can interact with all forms of nature throughout their working day. It is about seeing nature as an important asset, not just decoration.
Biophilic design is separate to the ideas of green and sustainable construction. For example, a green roof, low CO2 concrete and thick wall insulation may be environmentally friendly methods of construction, but these are largely hidden features that would not affect a user’s experience of the space. Biophilic design is about incorporating elements of nature into a used space.
Who invented biophilic design?
A leading advocate of biophilic design was ecology Professor Steven R Kellert.
During the 1980s he helped develop the then emerging theory of “biophilia,” a term coined by biologist and environmental theorist Edward O. Wilson. Biophilia describes humanity’s innate connection with the natural world. Together Kellert and Wilson explained the concepts of biophilia in a series of works, including the seminal book “The Biophilia Hypothesis”.
Today Professor Kellert’s contribution to biophilic design is recognised annually. The Steven R Kellert biophilic design award is given to a built project that best highlights the biophilic design process and principles.
What was the first biophilic design experiment?
The first real experiment in biophilic design in the workplace came in the 1995 at a Herman Miller manufacturing facility. This experiment in biophilic design was designed by William McDonough + Partners and was one of the first to consider how financial gains could be achieved by connecting building occupants to nature.
The plant incorporated lots of natural light through skylights. The building that would later be known as “the GreenHouse” had cost just a little more per square foot more than the company’s conventional pre-engineered buildings, but that extra investment was recouped quickly. The new plant saw greatly reduced energy bills and, within five years of its opening, productivity had doubled. The people working inside the building “loved” the natural light and the feeling of being connected with the outdoor space.
What are biophilic design principles?
The experience of nature can be incorporated either directly or indirectly. Direct incorporation involves using all elements of nature into the building itself. This could be plants, animals, moving water or natural light. Indirect incorporation involves mimicking nature through non-natural means. For example, images of nature, use of natural colours or organic shapes. These are all important biophilic design elements.
In his book “Biophilic Design”, Professor Steven R Kellert suggested six principles of biophilic design.
Environmental features – incorporating direct contact with vegetation into a built environment is a successful way to foster human-nature connection in design.
Natural shapes and forms – the natural world can be mirrored by showing complexity across different levels of the design, rather than straight edges and harsh lines.
Natural patterns and process – because human survival has always required managing highly sensuous and variable natural environments, biophilic design in the workplace must stimulate all the senses: sight, sound, smell, touch, and other sensory systems.
Light and space – natural daylight creates a stimulating and dynamic space that changes over the course of a day
Place based relationships – spaces should be connected to the local environment through their design
Evolved human-nature relationships – all humans need to feel safe and secure, and so biophilic design in the workplace should incorporate areas that can provide refuge for people but without isolation.
Each of these six elements was then further expanded into 70 biophilic design attributes.
Benefits of biophilic design
Biophilic design can offer considerable benefits across a number of areas.
Biophilic design and productivity
The Herman Miller experiment mentioned above was the first to show the productivity benefits that can come from biophilic design. Since then, other firms have proved that biophilic design can deliver significant productivity gains.
In their report “The Economics of Biophilia”, sustainability consulting firm Terrapin Bright Green analysed several examples of low level investments in biophilic design in the workplace. These investments included providing employees access to plants, natural views, daylight, and other biophilic design elements.
Biophilic design and employee absence
Poor building design is behind 10% of employee absences, and biophilic design concepts cut absenteeism and increase productivity
A study into workers at an administrative office at the University of Oregon highlighted this. It found that employees with the views of trees and natural landscape took an average of 57 hours of sick leave per year, compared with 68 hours taken by employees with no view at all. An urban view ranked somewhere in the middle.
When view quality was combined with lighting quality and window area, architectural elements explained 10% of the variation in sick leave days taken. Furthermore, the study found the quality of a person’s view to be the primary predictor of absenteeism.
Biophilic design and employee engagement
A further study into the value of a natural view highlighted the economic benefits of biophilic design. This study into the seating arrangement at the Sacramento Municipal Utility District Call Center showed how biophilic design can boost engagement.
The study measured the numbers of calls handled per hour by employees with seated access to views of vegetation through large windows from their cubicles, compared to those employees with no view of the outdoors.
Researchers found that those with views of nature handled calls 6-7% faster than those with no views.
As a result of this study, the workspace was modified to increase access to natural views. The building costs were around $1,000 per employee, but the annual productivity savings averaged nearly three times as much ($2,990 per employee). The one-off initial investment was achieved within just months, with biophilic design in the workplace contributing towards ongoing increased profits.
Cost savings of biophilic design
Reported benefits of biophilic design are greater productivity, decreased sickness absence and better engagement.
A recent study “Reap What You Sow” conducted by PLP Labs in collaboration with the Benholm Group showed how these benefits can translate into measurable financial gains for companies. Using a range of quantitative and qualitative measures and applying a financial proxy for well-being to the data, the results show that biophilic environments generated more than double the economic value of the non-biophilic design.
Another measurable gain from biophilic design in the workplace comes from natural light. Effective biophilic lighting will allow you to turn off artificial lighting. Depending upon the season, this might mean 10-14 hours of lighting costs saved per day. If biophilic lighting is well designed, it can prevent against heat gain and loss. This can create an overall reduction in energy costs of between 50 and 80%.
Some also claim that plants can filter harmful particles from the air, and so take the strain out of a building’s air filtration system. However, the impact that plants might have is low.
Biophilic design and mental health
Biophilic design can help mental health. It prevents issues and helps recovery in a number of different ways.
Biophilic design reduces stress levels
A study has found that the impact of a biophilic design in the workplace environment is immediate and significant. This study used virtual reality to test the impact of 4 different biophilic design offices. The four biophilic design spaces tested were:
No biophilic design in the workplace
Indoor green biophilic design (incorporating natural elements into a space)
Outdoor view biophilic design (natural light and long distance view of nature)
Combined biophilic design: both indoor green and outdoor view
The study subjected participants to stress inducing mental arithmetic tests, then measured the acute stress reaction through physiological indicators, including heart rate variability (HRV), heart rate (HR), skin conductance level (SCL) and blood pressure (BP).
The study found that those in the biophilic design environments has consistently lower BP and other indicators of stress and anxiety. The results indicate that indoor green biophilic elements facilitate the recovery of physiological stress, whilst an outdoor view biophilic design (including natural light) facilitates the recovery of anxiety. The results from the combination biophilic design strengthen this argument since it had an effect on improving both physiological stress level and psychological anxiety level.
Biophilic design reduces fatigue
According to Rachel Kaplan and Steven Kaplan, people need to go through four phases to overcome mental fatigue: fascination, directed attention to the fascinating environment, contemplation, and deeper restoration experience.
Some tasks require sustained effort. These “directed attention” tasks require abilities that are vulnerable to mental fatigue and reduced performance if done for a sustained period. Studies have shown that biophilic design and nature can calm and stimulate the mind so that people can continue working, boosting performance and reducing fatigue.
In the same way as the body gets tired through repeat use, moments created by biophilic design offer an opportunity for a mental “stretch”, allowing the mind to refocus.
What is not biophilic design?
In October 2015, Professor Steve R. Kellert set out his set of five conditions for the effective practice of biophilic design. These conditions underscore what would not be considered biophilic design:
Exposures to nature irrelevant to human productivity and survival exert little impact on human wellbeing and are not effective instances of biophilic design. This is because good biophilic design should emphasise human adaptations to the natural world that have proven instrumental in advancing health and wellbeing.
Occasional, transient, or isolated experiences of nature are not good biophilic design. These exert only superficial effects on people. True biophilic design depends on repeated and sustained engagement with nature.
Exposures to nature within a disconnected space are not good biophilic design. For example, an isolated plant, an out of context picture, or a natural material that contrasts too much with other elements in the space are not good examples biophilic design. Biophilic design requires reinforcing design interventions that connect with the overall space. The designed environment should be considered as a whole.
Design which omits the importance of emotion is not good biophilic design. Biophilic design should foster emotional attachments to settings and places. By satisfying our inherent inclination to affiliate with nature, good biophilic design will engender an emotional attachment to a particular space.
An environment which does not foster positive and sustained interactions and relationships among people and the natural environment is not good biophilic design. Humans are social creatures and our security and productivity depends on positive interactions with the rest of our species. A design which does not encourage social interaction is not good biophilic design (no matter how many plants or ocean views it might have).
Disadvantages of biophilic design
The benefits of biophilic design in the workplace are large and well proven. However, there are some issues with biophilic design. In this section we look at the disadvantages of biophilic design.
Is biophilic design expensive?
Good biophilic design in the workplace will make economic sense given the benefits to employee wellbeing, engagement and productivity. However, these benefits of biophilic design don’t come for free.
Incorporating trees and plants in a space is great, but they will all require regular care and maintenance and this will come at a cost. If plants are neglected, dead or dying flora is unlikely to offer the same motivational benefits to workers. In addition, lots more natural light in a space might lead to more heat. Unless proper consideration is given to managing this extra heat, air conditioning costs could rise.
Adapting a space to be incorporate more biophilic design in the workplace comes with financial cost. In the Sacramento example given above, this was around $1,000 per employee. For a cash strapped business, funding building works of this nature in the uncertain hope of recouping returns from an productivity boost might be out of reach.
Disability and biophilic design
Nature is great, but careful thought needs to be given when creating a biophilic space. Businesses should be careful to avoid making their workplace less friendly and accessible to those with any mobility or health issues.
For example, lawns aren’t wheelchair friendly. Greening paved areas might look good but could reduce accessibility for wheelchair users. In addition, plant and pollen allergies are common, and can be felt most in springtime. Plants should be selected with this sensitivity in mind.
“Although some current urban planning and design practices such as tactical urbanism and biophilic design may be post-modernist in their participatory-ness and natural-world focus, outcomes are still informed by entrenched design-school attitudes, the result being that the accessibility needs of people with disability are still ignored.”
Biophilic design and the future of work
The trends towards greener and more sustainable ways of building is not new. There are plenty of energy efficient offices out there. Yet workspaces with a truly biophilic design are still rare, although more
If there truly is a “new normal” and homeworking will be a permanent part of life, the office needs to adapt. We’ve discussed the office of the future in the aftermath of the pandemic. It needs to be a more attractive space that employees will go to because they want to be there, not just because they have to be there. There must be real, tangible benefits for workers. Because it is no longer a necessity, the office needs to make its contribution towards a business’s bottom line. Biophilic design can deliver all this.
As office leases expire over the next few years, employers will have to consider their future office needs. Rethinking the workspace and incorporating biophilic design should be at the front of their thinking.