Biophilic Design in your home. Surround yourself with a stronger environment & bring nature back into your living spaces.
Biophilic Design
How to Incorporate Biophilic Design into Your Home
Using Biophilic Design in areas of your home is an essential part of creating a stronger environment that syncs with the natural biorhythms of humanity. Consider these biophilic design principles to incorporate into your home. There are focused efforts to bring nature back into the normal scope of life. You’ll find many architects and interior designers incorporating areas of nature back into living spaces to reconnect humans with natural sources.
What Is Biophilic Design?
Simply put, Biophilic Design is the practice of connecting humans to nature within areas of their homes. It isn’t just adding a houseplant or creating a living wall but using the natural forms, shapes, and colors of nature into an integrated design that supports the health of humanity. Biophilic Design incorporates a web of physical items that intricately work together to create an overall connection to nature within a space.
Understand Direct/Indirect Nature Experiences
There are both direct and indirect experiences that you can have with nature within your home. Direct experiences include exposure to light, air, water, and plants as well as animals, weather, and natural landscapes. Experiencing light through a picture window would be a direct nature experience as well as having a home located on waterfront property.
Some long experiences with nature include pictures of scenic landscaping, life, natural materials, and colors, as well as natural geometries. Experiencing nature through the recorded sounds of a bubbling brook or featuring wood tones within a home would be indirect natural experiences.
Biophilic Design Examples
Access to Fresh Air
Windows are an essential part of Biophilic Design as they allow access to a wide range of direct nature experiences. Opening a window will allow fresh air to enter your home which will connect you with nature as well as the current weather. Sunlight will filter into your home as well as the sounds of nature like birds chirping, raindrops falling, or wind blowing. Making sure that your home’s windows are easily accessible, as well as in good repair for frequent use, is vital in Biophilic Design.
Blur the Boundary
Many residents find themselves wanting to spend more time outdoors. The desire makes outdoor living spaces very important even in the smallest home or properties. Creating an outdoor space that is easily accessible will be used frequently and connect residents to nature in a profound manner. Investing in an outdoor area that feels just as comfortable as an indoor one will help blur the boundary between indoor and outdoor spaces of the home.
Another way to blur the boundary between outdoor and indoor areas of the home can be done by adding native plants to areas of your home. Bringing native plants indoors, that already do well in your climate, will help you not only appreciate nature but also witness the unique life that each plant exhibits. These indoor plants also help to create an awareness of native plants in your area that you will recognize and connect with on a daily basis.
Embrace Natural Aspects
One of the easiest ways to begin incorporating Biophilic Design into a home is to add natural shapes, forms, and colors in a way to appreciate nature. Choose to leave wood trim or furnishings a natural color instead of painting over them. Avoid straight lines that rarely occur in life but embrace the creativity of nature with imperfect curves and shapes. Add organically curved lines to areas of your home in the shape of the counter, wall decorations, or area rugs that replicate the many forms of beauty you see in local nature spots. Incorporate natural forms into your home by imitating the shapes of waves, shells, or plants in many areas of the house as well.
Create Unity Within the Space
Again, Biophilic Design is not just choosing one of these aspects to incorporate into your home but is instead the weaving of many elements together in an intricate manner. Choose items to add to your home that makes sense not only to you but also to each other to receive the most benefit. Try to make each space of your household have different Biophilic Design elements that are both subtle but noticeable to find harmony within the senses and nature at home.
There are many aspects to Biophilic Design that create a wonderfully complex way to connect with nature within an interior space. Consider these tips to incorporate Biophilic Design into your home to intimately unite with nature on a daily basis.
Kena Morris is a guest contributor, gardener, and flower expert who loves sharing in the growth of nature.
