Editor’s Note: This piece originally appeared in Learning by Design’s Spring 2022 issue as part of a content collaboration titled, “Natural Selection.”
Architecture is an experience. Among the best of these, context, character, and community inform place, purpose, and point of view to shape the many choices made along the way. In architecture for learning, decisions made during design influence a student’s capacity to absorb and retain information just as the building provides a place where a student can get an education. For researchers Bill Browning and Terri Peters, Ph.D., bringing the natural human instinct to connect with the natural world into the spaces where we live, work, learn, and play is more than a matter of aesthetics; this is a mission.
“Biophilia is about accommodating the human desire and need to connect with nature in the spaces we occupy,” said Browning, who is the managing partner of Terrapin Bright Green, a sustainable design and research consultancy committed to create a healthier world. “At the simplest level, biophilic design begins with a good view of nature through windows and revitalizing the spaces we occupy with plants and natural materials. However, this is only 3 of the 15 different patterns of biophilic design that improve the built environment. There is no shortage of evidence that these things improve cognitive functions, physical health, and psychological well-being.”
Terri Peters, Ph.D., is an architect and assistant professor in the Department of Architecture and Science at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada, who has devoted her career to studying human conditions that are difficult to measure.
“The most effective biophilic design solutions are holistic and immersive,” says Peters. “The spatial proportions, the quality of the light, the textures, the air flows, and the smells all combine to enhance the space in meaningful ways.”
In nearly 30 years of research and consulting on biophilic design strategies, Browning shares that the established science around infusing space with nature falls into three areas of application.
Nature in the Space is literally the idea of adding natural influences such as landscapes, plants, and sunlight to enliven space through design. The second application, Natural Analogs, is the indirect experiences of nature through the inclusion of natural materials, fractal patterns, and biomorphic forms of architecture that provide accessibility to nature through non-living elements. Finally, Nature of the Spaces involves spatial experiences that apply natural spatial patterns that induce a psychological feeling of calm and security within a space. For example, an unobstructed view of an area can improve perspective awareness, while a wall behind you and a shelter above provide a soothing sense of refuge within a space.
Image by Wade Griffith Photography
Redbud Elementary in Round Rock, TX
Architect / Design: PBK Architects
“The effects of biophilic design decisions are measurable. Studies of educational environments reveal that students learn better, retain more, and enjoy the overall educational experience in spaces with biophilic influences,” Browning said. “Several studies have proven that exposure to sunlight improves visual acuity and keeps us in sync with our circadian clock. Seeing nature, even through a window, has an effect on our prefrontal cortex that helps stimulate -returns our attention and allows students to increase cognitive focus and retention of information.”
According to Attention Restoration Theory, the human brain’s capacity to focus on a specific stimulus is limited – too much time on task results in focused attention fatigue. Breaking away from intense concentration in a restorative natural environment for as little as 40 seconds can reset a person’s mental state from negative to positive, enabling them to maintain concentration. at full capacity in a relatively short period of time.
“In educational settings when children are allowed access to nature during the day, teachers report students returning to the classroom in a calmer state of mind and moving on to the next task more easily,” said Browning.
Peters shared that at Ryerson University, while participating in a classroom audit of campus facilities, the team found many challenges related to classroom design, use, and spatial hierarchy.
“Issues as simple as walls filled with posters, mismatched chairs and tables, and poor light levels are examples of everyday basics that can be easily improved,” says Peters. “Next semester, we will build a test classroom that incorporates biophilic design principles and then evaluate the student and teacher experience against unmodified classrooms in the same building. More yet, we will add plants, replace the lighting with a full spectrum system and clean the windows. for better light and views. We will also increase the spatial variability by increasing the hierarchy of spaces and replace wall clutter with thoughtfully selected abstract graphics of natural patterns that we believe have measurable positive effects.”
One of the most interesting ways that biophilic design strategies can enhance the experience of space is by incorporating statistical fractals. These detailed, repetitive patterns are the basic foundation of many organic systems, which exist in abundance throughout the natural world. Spiral fractals allow nature to condense itself for stability and resilience against the elements; examples include pinecones, pineapples, and hurricanes. The Voronoi fractal illuminates nature’s tendency to favor efficiency and relies on linking the cell structure through the shortest path between points. Examples include the skin of a giraffe, honeycombs, cells of a leaf, and bubbling bubbles.
Browning was part of a team that conducted a year-long study using a simple biophilic intervention in a sixth-grade mathematics classroom in Baltimore. Changes include removing most of the visual clutter of posters from the walls, installing Interface® carpet tiles with a wavy grass biomorphic pattern, a wallpaper frieze with an abstracted palm-leaf pattern, and automated fabric window blinds with statistical fractal pattern based. in the shadows of the tree branches.
The impact of the interventions was soon seen. Test scores improved significantly – average math test scores were more than three times higher in the biophilic classroom than in a control classroom. The study also determined that space helped students recover from stress. In fact, the percentage of students in the biophilic classroom who perceived their stressors as high decreased from 67% in February to 35% in June. In addition, teachers in the biophilic classroom reported experiencing reduced anxiety and increased effectiveness, suggesting that the interventions benefit both students and staff.
“Dappled light or the experience of sunlight streaming through a canopy of trees in a forest has a calming effect on human minds,” shares Browning. “We recently worked on a new guest room prototype for a hospitality client where we added LED lighting and a perforated metal panel to the ceiling plane above the entrance to the room. walls and floors that mimic the experience of stepping into a forest, producing a calming effect.”
Image by Wade Griffith Photography
Redbud Elementary in Round Rock, TX
Architect / Design: PBK Architects
Browning and Peters agree that the benefits go beyond improved cognitive performance when asked about the big picture imperative for biophilic spaces in learning environments.
“In educational design, there is ever-increasing pressure on physical spaces to offer more than accommodation. To be competitive, Spaces must foster collaboration, elevate our mood, and create calm and welcome people,” Peters said. Not surprisingly, Browning reveals that the corporate world is leading the way in biophilic implementation in many cases.
“Corporations today realize that the old model of cubical-fill workspaces does not favor random interactions and the feeling of spontaneous combustion that forces eureka moments that can change the trajectory of success,” said Browning. “To maximize real estate value, workspaces and classrooms alike need openness, inclusivity, and the opportunity for cross-pollination of interactions.”
Browning points out that for most of his 30 years of experience in the field, energy efficiency has been the focus of sustainable design strategies. In the push for sustainability to save the planet, many overlook the fact that the cost of operating a building is only about one percent of the cost of a business. The real value of sustainability is obtained through increased human performance, personal pride in place, and the sense of satisfaction that comes from having fresh air, views of nature, and interactions with others.
“In some ways, the effectiveness and simplicity of these design strategies may be glaringly obvious,” concludes Peters. “Biophilic design aims to be an immersive, multi-sensory experience of nature in space. However, there is more to it than plants and landscapes or bells and whistles. It is about the use of color , light, texture, and nature’s ability to enhance human performance. These principles can be transmitted to everything from carpet patterns to the angle of a table to a window. In every way possible, design makes a difference.”