Creating nature-inspired biophilic interiors is still a young and promising trend. We wrote this article to give an overview of why people are attracted to natural interiors and how they perceive the so-called Biophilic Design within the working environment.
What is Biophilic Design?
The concept of biophilia suggests that our profound affection for nature is rooted deep in our genes, developed over generations of human history spent in rural surroundings. This inherent bond explains our fascination with the sound of a crackling fire or crashing waves, highlights how nature boosts our creativity, and underscores the therapeutic impact on our bodies of spending time in parks.
Building on this connection, biophilic design is a concept employed in architecture and construction to reestablish people's link with the natural environment. One method of achieving this connection is by incorporating living plants, natural light, and organic forms. In essence, biophilic design brings nature indoors.
By reducing the mismatch between the evolutionary needs of humans and today's indoor environments, it can be demonstrated that designing a natural indoor environment brings a range of health and well-being benefits.
Note: Biophilic design does not necessarily imply sustainable architecture. Sustainable architecture usually involves minimizing the environmental impact of buildings and cities. In contrast, biophilic design focuses on fostering a connection between nature and people.
What is the Purpose of Biophilic Design?
The World Health Organization predicts that stress-related illnesses such as mental disorders and cardiovascular diseases will account for the largest proportion of illnesses in 2020. Considering that today's society spends more than 80% of its time indoors interior design has enormous potential to promote the mental and physical health of employees.
Another driver of biophilic design is the opportunity to position your company attractively for the desired potential employees. And if current workers are satisfied with their working environment, they will remain with the company and the new talented employees will be attracted!
Productivity can also be increased if employees are happy and feel comfortable. A long-term study by the University of Exeter concluded that employees are on average 15% more productive when plain workplaces are complemented by indoor plants.
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The Benefits of Biophilic Design in the Workplace
1. Office plants can improve your mental health
Indoor plants help to reduce indoor carbon dioxide levels while increasing oxygen levels through the natural process of photosynthesis. Our brain functions and cognitive processes will benefit, making employees more efficient in everyday tasks. Empirical research with 320 participants shows that 54% feel more actively productive and 68% less stressed with indoor plants.
2. House plants improve physical health
Plants improve air quality by increasing relative humidity and filtering pollutants from the air. Combining the psychological effects of biophilic design and clean air, scientific research has shown a reduction in sick days of up to 60%. In addition, research provided evidence that relative humidity between 40-60% has a significant impact on virus transmission by pushing viruses to the ground faster. This may be of particular interest during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. We have created an insightful series of articles on the topics of indoor air quality and its influence on you and your colleagues, read it here or dive deeper into the mechanism of how plants can improve indoor air quality.
3. Plants help to save energy
The natural improvement in indoor air quality reduces the running times of conventional ventilation systems. This not only saves energy costs but also reduces the environmental impact. Empirical data shows an average reduction in energy consumption of around 30% following the greening of indoor spaces.
4. Biophilic design improves your interior
A natural design significantly improves the interior ambiance, which is due to the genetic connection to nature. We performed a customer survey (more than 300 participants) and it showed that 84% of participants saw a noticeable improvement in the environment and ambient of the office. Quite impressive, right? To learn more about special applications of biophilic design, read our article on best practices of biophilic design.
Analysis of the biophilic trend
To get an idea of how the trend is evolving, we took a look at global trends in Google searches over the last five years. In this trend, we can notice that while "biophilic" and "biophilic design" have seen a steady but modest increase over time, the demand for "houseplants" in particular seems to have reached a new high among the general public. Digging a little deeper, it can be seen that the origin of the search query could be mainly from private households. The following graph shows the search entries for "home design" (red), "office design" (yellow), and "houseplants" (blue).
A strong positive correlation (Pearson correlation of 0.97) between "home design" and "houseplants" can be observed in the first quarter of 2020 (immediately after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic). This is due to the increase in working from home, which has led to a rise in demand for interior design ideas with houseplants.
Furthermore, social media seems to be another driver for houseplants as part of biophilic design. According to the Swiss newspaper NZZ, so-called "plantfluencing" seems to be the new way to attract people. Depending on how this trend develops, it could have a significant impact on the working environment if it is designed with the customer in mind.
Plantfluencers - is an influencer movement that encourages space biophilic design, plant decorations, therariums, plant applications and animals that live on and with the plants(small shrimps, frogs, spiders, microscopic animals and etc.). Quite often plant influencers are millennials and gen Z, that want to live more sustainably, and responsibly to the enviornment, while also using benefits of plants to improve mental health and nurish more healthier comunities.
This article was brought to you by the Head of Marketing - Remy
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