What is Biophilic Interior Design?

You may not be familiar with the word. Still, biophilic design is a theory in architecture and interior design that’s all about feeling more connected to nature and including the positive energy and environmental advantages that arrive with that. It derives from the term biophilia, which means a love of nature and everything alive.

 

As an architecture and interior design approach, biophilic design is a relatively new theory—with much of today’s method developed by Stephen Kellert in the 2000s. Kellert was a professor of social ecology at Yale and created a structure around how biophilia can be used in interior architecture to fill the human need for nature.

 

The core principles Kellert developed include direct and indirect experiences of nature in your home. Direct experiences include elements that offer physical contact with natural ingredients—like celebrating natural light; being conscious of airflow, temperature, and humidity; and incorporating water, plants, and animals into your space. Indirect experiences of nature are more about representations of nature in your home. Examples of this can range from the more literal, like landscape paintings and natural materials and colours, to the more abstract, like natural shapes and patterns in furniture and decor.

 

 

 

How to Incorporate Biophilic Design into Your Home

It’s easier than you might think to apply these core systems of biophilic design in your home. If you want to increase your connectivity with nature in your own home, read on for 17 ways to include biophilic design into your home! We’ll start with some tips that will help you bring some direct encounters of nature into your home, then help you explore some indirect experiences of nature in your space.

 

1. Invite Natural, Layered Light

Obtain your home’s surroundings feel more natural through lighting that mimics nature. Start by assessing the natural light in your space and how you can use windows and skylights to optimize your home’s natural light. Next, arrange your area in a way that celebrates the different lighting throughout the day; perhaps you want your sofa to bask in the afternoon sunlight or for your breakfast nook to catch the morning light. Finally, take some time to assess the light patterns in your home and plan your layout accordingly.

You’ll also want to keep layered lighting in mind—from overhead lighting and floor lamps to various candles, sconces, and table lamps. Purposely keeping to light for your home will help you control the lighting in your space and let you improve lighting levels depending on your mood and the time of day. Relatively than undergoing artificial, this enables you to change the lighting in your home in a way that simulates the way light changes in nature throughout the day.

You can also use reflective surfaces like glass tables and mirrors to bring more reflection of light into your space.

2. Let in Some Fresh Air

Considering how wind flows in your place is a meaningful way to include biophilic design into your home. In the most simplistic terms, this involves stimulating some airflow. The most common way is to simply crack a window and let in the natural breeze. (Bonus: depending on where you live, this will also invite sounds of nature inside!) You can use a fan for a subtle breeze for rooms without windows, airflow, or when you don’t want to crack a window. (We love the look of an old desk fan, but ceiling fans are also great!)

Temperature and humidity are other things to consider when it comes to the air in your home. How you approach this is up to your personal choices (some people love humidity and hot temps, others don’t). But using humidifiers or diffusers is two ways to impact the air quality and your knowledge in your space.

3. Incorporate Houseplants and Flowers

Ever question why people say that plants make them happy? This approach is straight out of the biophilic design playbook. If photographs of nature are helpful, the real thing is even better. Meaning: the more plants, the merrier! This is a simple way to instantly invite the soul into your home! But there are some other benefits as well—certain houseplants help clean your air, and taking care of plants and taking the time and effort to nurture them can give you a sense of purpose (without the commitment level of caring for an animal!). And, of course, you can’t beat a vase of fresh farmer’s market flowers!

4. Bring in a Water Feature

Some people believe in powerful connections to water. If this is you, consider ways you could include this element in your home. Two of the easiest ways to naturally have water? The use of a water feature, like a tabletop fountain or a saltwater aquarium. They not only literally bring water into your space, but they also bring in the sound of flowing water!

5. Display Pictures of Nature

Don’t have a great view? Create one! Some studies have shown that images of nature can be emotionally and intellectually pleasing. Hanging landscape paintings or framing photographs from your own travels are a perfect way to bring pictures of nature into your space. Photos or artwork of places that hold special significance to you are a significant way to get this idea to life.

Suppose you don’t want to go quite literally on the landscapes. In that case, you can try other nature-inspired art—like botanical prints or animal art.

6. Include Natural Materials

A super-easy way to hop on the biophilic design bandwagon? Use natural materials in your decor and furniture, and even the finishes throughout your home. This can be really simple—a wood dining or coffee table, a jute rug, a stone side table. Of course, Live-edge and raw, unfinished woods will give you a more natural vibe than finished and manufactured wood—but both approaches will still bring visual texture and depth into your space. But don’t stop at wood; explore other natural materials like stone (think: granite, marble, concrete) and natural woven fibres like wool, jute, cotton.

Visual complexity and lack of uniformity, which are found in abundance in nature, makes environments more visually stimulating versus the uniformity of man-made materials. This basically gives your brain more to “chew on.”

7. Embrace Earth Tones

Applying a neutral or earth-tone palette in your home is indirect to bring nature into your space. Consider colours commonly found in nature, like subdued tones of brown, green, and blue. These earth tones have soothing vibes and act as neutrals throughout your space while still feeling bold and saturated. Include these hues into your home through decor, furnishings, and finishes like flooring and paint colours. In reverse, use brighter colours sparingly, so your home has a delicate balance!

8. Work including Structural Shapes

Structural shapes are those with soft curves, abstract forms, and asymmetrical shapes. Essentially, they’re the types of lines you would expect to find in the natural world. They bring a beautiful imperfection into your space. You can obtain these organic shapes into your home through furniture, decor, architectural details, and even the layout of your room.

Move away from shapes you wouldn’t find in nature. (AKA, no sharp corners, straight lines, or perfect symmetry!) Mid-Century Modern is a great style to use as a foundation for bringing organic shapes into your home, as it’s a design style that celebrates organic forms. You could also opt for its little sister Organic Modernism, which offers a more earthy approach to a modern aesthetic.

9. Try Out Mismatched Furniture

Just as you won’t spot flawlessly straight lines in nature, you likely won’t find some shapes. You can translate this idea of variance to your home by skipping matchy-matchy furniture. Rather than going for a real living or dining room set, try styling your space with different accent chairs, mismatched dining chairs, or mismatched nightstands. Doing this adds variance and intrigue to your space—plus gives it a unique look that’s totally unique to you.

This idea of variance and mismatched furniture is a staple of bohemian design. This is one of the many reasons people often find this design style to feel more “earthy” or in touch with nature.

10. Vary Your Elevations and Scale

We just suggested that, in nature, perfectly straight lines and balance rarely exist. And the same goes for height. In reality, you’ll see trees and plants in different shapes and sizes, living side-by-side. So an abstract way to translate this idea into your home is to vary the height of your decor when styling your space.

Owning items of similar size, shape, and scale will feel contrived and man-made—. In opposition, variation mimics the randomness of nature and is visually appealing. The vases and bowls are of different sizes, shapes, and fullness (as are the plants in the vases). It creates an easy balance that’s pleasing to the eye.

11. Bring in Some Textural Abundance

Nature is full of texture—both visual and tactile. So a fun way to try on a biophilic design is by bringing various textures into your space. Owning varying surfaces and materials—like several woven upholstery, plus smooth and rough materials next to each other—will bring visual richness to your room. And this is not to be confused with busyness! It’s not about getting more stuff into your space but rather about considering the texture of what you bring in and how it plays with other pieces in your room. This also ties in with the idea of the vast complexity and textural richness of ecosystems in nature!

12. Opt for Elements That Hold a Patina

In nature, things age and change, so use objects in your home that will, too. Decorating your home with materials that age and develop a patina help signal our brains that time has passed and things are changing. Our favourite materials that form a beautiful patina are copper, brass, marble, and leather. Of course, both copper and brass can be kept shiny—but something is encouraging about a brass bed or a copper tea kettle that is well-loved and shows signs of use and ageing. Moreover, marble tabletops tend to change hues and smoothness over time. And leather sofas and chairs develop a rich patina over time, darkening and developing scuffs and scratches of everyday use that only add to the beauty of the material.

13. Mix Natural Patterns

We love a fitting patterned wallpaper or rug. But have you thought about the repeated patterns that naturally occur in nature? Honeycombs, rippling waves, and the patterns found on a plant leaf or animal hides are some of the most beautiful natural ways out there. So take inspiration from these naturally occurring patterns and incorporate them into your home—whether that’s through a honeycomb wall shelf, a glass wall that has a wavy pattern in it, baskets with scalloped edges, or even an excellent ol’ animal print blanket.

14. Cut Out a Cozy Nook

Having a place for “refuge” is known to enhance our well being in a space, giving us a sense of safety. (This is where our human evolution diverges from the wildness of nature.) Alcoves, nooks, and cosy corners are comfortable and help us feel safe and nurtured. So, carve out a designated place like this in your home and use it for reading, meditation, phone calls with loved ones, or simply unwinding after a long day.

15. Emphasize the View

Just as having cosy nooks gives us a sense of safety, creating a space that emphasizes horizons and spaciousness is also a tremendous biophilic design technique. Designing a room to highlight the view outside gives us a sense of surveying our surroundings. There’s something primal about looking for movement and sources of danger—but there’s also a beautiful simplicity in just taking in the views of nature. We love the idea of bringing this to life by setting up a window nook, balcony, or porch where you can kick back and enjoy the views.

16. Design Easy Traffic Flow

The ability to quickly move through space increases our feelings of security in a place. So, make sure you have clear walkways in your home is essential! When arranging a room, ensure your pathways are uncluttered, there’s enough space between furniture, and there’s a clear sense of entrances and exits. Essentially, moving throughout your room should be comfortable and easy. This is also a fundamental tenet of Feng Shui; unblocked halls create energy flow in your home, and clear passageways keep that good energy flowing throughout your home.

 

 

 

What Are the Benefits of Biophilic Design?

As humans, we crave a connection with nature. And a strong relationship improves our well-being. That’s why biophilic design has risen in popularity. Using environmental psychology as a launching point, architects and designers embrace biophilic innovation to increase that connection, especially in limited access to nature. Here are some of the benefits people say biophilic design brought them!

• Increased productivity
• Improved mental health
• Cleaner air
• Reduced stress levels
• Feeling more creative