DESIGN
Interiors
Biophilia
Welcoming nature into interior design BY BARBARA KAPLAN, IFDA, ALLIED ASID, DESIGN DIMENSIONS
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Being an interior designer who focuses more on feelings and emotions in all my designs for people, I would like to discuss an important design element in the interior design world called biophilia.
If you haven’t yet heard this term, let’s start by defining the meaning. Biophilia is the “love of living things,” which is the idea that humans possess an innate tendency to seek connections with nature. It has become the word to best describe the innate connection between people and nature, resulting in improved health and well-being of spaces we live and work in. Psychoanalyst Erich Fromm first noted biophilia in his 1973 book The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness. He described biophilia as “the passionate love of life and of all that is alive.” The term was later used by American biologist Edward O. Wilson in his work Biophilia (1984), based on the innate relationship humans share with nature. Interior design uses the word largely when bringing green plants into interiors. We create living environments for the purpose of supporting people’s well-being, to thrive. Plants help with this in so many ways—they bring clean and healthy energy into interior spaces, and they enhance the beauty of any room. Plants clean the air we breathe by the process of photosynthesis—they take in CO2 (carbon dioxide) from the air and combine it with water absorbed through their roots. They use energy from sunlight to turn these ingredients into carbohydrates (sugars) and oxygen, and
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they release extra oxygen to the air. Then there is the psychological fact of living with plants. Living with plants can make you feel better in a myriad of ways. In particular, plants have been shown to: • • • • • • • • •
Lower blood pressure; Improve reaction times; Increase attentiveness; Improve attendance (at work and school); Raise productivity (at work); Improve well-being; Improve perceptions of the space; Lower levels of anxiety during recovery from surgery; Raise job satisfaction.
Feeling good around plants is probably not surprising. After all, we surround ourselves with plants during celebrations such as weddings and tragedies such as funerals. We also create green space for parks and community gardens in our cities and communities. Because of these reasons and many more, plants are now considered an essential part of any environment in which people live and work. Designers and architects will generally include plants in the environments they design. Plants bring a calming, relaxing energy into spaces. Plants
