Biophilia Design

biophilic design

advanced design research | ITDS 5114

biophilic design

jessie bean

virginia tech | ITDS | 2016

biophilia overview................................................................................................1 E.O.Wilson...........................................................................................................5 14 patterns of biophilic design............................................................................6 water....................................................................................................................7 biomimicry...........................................................................................................8 neuroscience.....................................................................................................10 human nature.....................................................................................................11 humane architecture..........................................................................................12 science of biophilia............................................................................................13 restorative environmental design.......................................................................14 healthy planet, healthy children.........................................................................18 urban design......................................................................................................20 ecocommunities.................................................................................................21 education...........................................................................................................22 domains of biomimicry.......................................................................................23 [re]connect to nature..........................................................................................24 individual intervention........................................................................................25 Durkan Carpet Design Challenge......................................................................26 Global Food Design Challenge.........................................................................29 natural observation............................................................................................31 sources...............................................................................................................39

table of contents

biophilia

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What is biophilia?

• An innate love for the natural world that is universally felt by all of humankind.

• People are driven towards nature and natural materials and surfaces. So as designers, we want to create and design spaces that draw from nature and mimic them so the user will thrive in the environment.

E.O. Wilson • An American biologist, researcher, theorist, naturalist and author defines biophilia as “the connection that human beings subconsciously seek with the rest of life.”

• Theorizes that the evolutionary context for the development of the human mind and body was mainly sensory world dominant by critical environmental features [such as light, sound, smell, weather, vegetation, animals, and landscapes].

Biophilic Design • An innovative way of designing the places where we live, work, and learn.

As humans, we need nature in a deep and fundamental fashion in order to survive and sustain our planet.

Components of biophilia • Environmental factors: color, water, air, sunlight, plants, animals, etc.

• Natural shapes and forms: botanical motifs, shells and spirals, arches, domes, etc.

• Biomorphy: something that looks like nature but does not originate in nature [organic and manipulates forms].

• Geomorphy: embracing the landscape and integrating it into the design and process.

components

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components • Environmental factors: color, water, air, sunlight, plants, animals, etc.

• Natural shapes and forms: botanical motifs, shells and spirals, arches, domes, etc.

• Natural Patterns and Processes: patina of time, growth, sensory variability, age, change, etc.

• Light and Space: natural light, filtered light, reflected light, indoor//outdoor space, temperature, etc.

• Place-Based relationships: geographic connection to place, historic connection, cultural, indigenous materials, etc.

• Evolved human-nature relationships: prospect and refuge, order and complexity, curiosity and exploration.

• Humpback whale: flipper, used for efficient wind turbine design • Termites: inspire sustainable buildings, used to help interior variation in temperature • Trees and human bones: optimizing strength in building structures • Human lungs: give us examples of how to sequester carbon • Lotus leaf: self cleaning, used for new technologies in paint on buildings • Kingfisher: re-design of the Chinese Bullet Train to improve sound and efficiency • Chimpanzee: chews leaves of certain plants to heal themselves and get rid of parasites • Dolphins: know before a tsunami hits and migrate away

case studies

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E.O. Wilson Consilience

• Everything is interconnected and reliant on everything else, and humans are a part of this system • Focus on the unity of knowledge, rather than treating each subject as its own entity • Conjunction among all of the great branches of learning is necessary because it offers the prospect of characterizing human nature

Epigenic Rules

• The basis of human nature, and have evolved over time • Defined by Wilson as “the inherited regularities of mental development” • The genetic biases in the way our senses perceive the world • The symbolic coding by which we represent the world • the options we open to ourselves, and the responses we find easiest and most rewarding to make

Nature in the Space Patterns

1. Visual Connection with nature - view to elements of nature 2. Non-visual connection with nature - sound, touch, taste, or smell that is a positive reference to nature 3. Non-rhythmic sensory stimuli - random and brief connections with nature 4. Thermal and air flow variability - subtle changes in air temperature 5. Presence of water - enhancement of space by seeing, hearing or touching of water 6. Dynamic and diffuse light - light and shadows that change over time to create conditions that occur in nature 7. Connection with natural systems - seasonal and temporal changes

Natural Analogues Patterns

8. Biomorphic Forms and patterns - arrangements and textures that persist in nature 9. Material Connection with nature - materials that reflect the local ecology or geology to create a distinct sense of place 10. Complexity and order - rich sensory information that adheres to a spatial hierarchy similar to those encountered in nature

Nature of Space Patters

11. Prospect - a view over a distance for surveillance

12. Refuge - a place for withdrawal

13. Mystery - a promise for more information

14. Risk/Peril - a threat coupled with a reliable safeguard

14 patterns of biophilic design

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water Water and the Built Environment Water: • Covers 70% of the earth’s surface and has a ubiquitous presence in the landscape • Forms the major component of the cellular structure of living organisms • The unifying element of nature Water and Buildings: • Traditionally to keep water out • Roof gardens and green roofs • Recreation - water parks, water skiing • Interior pools/basins • Exterior water gardens, waterfalls: appealing, soothing, energizing • Fountains • Fallingwater - Frank Lloyd Wright Hydromimicry: • Mimicking the shapes and movement of water • On site storm water runoff/routing • Storm water - site scale, neighborhood scale

Biomimicry

• The act of learning from nature, borrowing designs and strategies that have worked in place for billions of years • A natural part of biophilia, the tendency to focus on life and life-like processes and to affiliate with other life forms • A way of seeking solutions • Biomimics study nature’s design principles in order to be granted lifefriendly function, to create architecture that works the way life works; focuses on process and function

• “A building need not look exactly like a tree, but it should work like one.”

Approach

• Scoping - identifying the problem • Creating - ideas, options, prototypes • Evaluation - determine if goals and metrics are being met • Discovering - ask nature, “how would you solve this?”

biomimicry

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elements Elements of Biomimicry • Ethos: ethics, intentions, underlying philosophy

- Respect and responsibility to fellow species • [Re]connect: we are nature

- Discover life’s genius, patterns and deep principles

- Discover connection and relationship to nature - Observation • Emulate: nature as model, mentor and measure

- Solve problems through bio-inspiration

- Minimize negative impact on nature

• Conceptions of human beings: what parts of the human brain are designs affecting?

- Mechanical: a human being is regarded as a component placed into an abstract, mechanical world; disconnected - Biological: a human being is an organism made of sensors that interact with its environment; biologically connected - Transcendental: a human being is something much more than a biological system; connected to the universe in ways that other animals are not • Healing: genetic factors for ordered geometry of biological forms that connect with humans and lead to healing • Neurological Nourishment: merging of artificial structures with natural ones, we are naturally attracted to patterns • Essential Geometrical Qualities: proportional relationships, fractals in nature • Architecture from human nature: tactile, perceptual and metal processes for well-being • Cooperation: informational connecting between multiple disciplines to create holistic design solutions

neuroscience

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human nature Human Nature • The general psychological

characteristics, feelings, and behavioral traits of humankind, regarded as shared by all humans • Genetic evolution and cultural evolution are closely interwoven

Cooperation: • A necessity in life and with nature in order to function properly Abstract Human: • Lives in a technological world • Formal and abstract notions of form and space - conceptualize Biological Human: • Sensory system • Geometry of the environment Transcendental Human: • Abstract thinking • Spirituality • Conscious of environment, resources

14 Steps to Humane Architecture How can we create an architecture that is more humane?

• Adapt to changing conditions: incorporate diversity, maintain integrity • Be locally attuned and responsive: we can make bricks for a building from the dirt below the building site • Use life-friendly chemistry: if we don’t know if something causes harm to humans, then you shouldn’t be using it • Be resource efficient [material and energy]: knowing material sizes, • Integrate development with growth: self organize, build from bottom up • Evolve to survive: replicate strategies that work

Process

• Scoping:

- Define – context

- Identify – function

- Integrate – life’s principles

- Discover – natural model

Meme

• Like a highly adaptive gene, is an idea that propagates and spreads rapidly through a population

- Something is “in the air” it spreads through a population

humane architecture

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science of biophilia Roger Urlich

• Biophilia and Health • Biophilic Theory and Research for Healthcare Design

- 50 rigorous studies [quantitative]

- Evidence-Based Design [healthcare] • According to Ulrich, if you have a better view of nature, then you will have a shorter stay in the heath care facility and you will heal faster • Health outcomes from studies: observable signs, satisfaction, safety, economic • Stress: patients, families, visitors, employees

- Can be stressful when you can’t control temperature, noise, window use • Research shows: overall views, images and // or physical nature result in pain mitigation

Restorative Design • Restorative Environmental Design aims to reestablish positive connections between nature and humanity in the built environment • Three perspectives on how people cope and react to environmental stress: • Stress Perspective:

- If a person is under continual

heavy demands, their ability to cope will break down and they will lose ability to adapt

- i.e. Physically or mentally ill • Coping Perspective:

- As long as a person has adequate support [people, money, time, resources], they can keep dealing with almost anything

- Can continue to adapt // cope • Restoration Perspective:

- People go through cycles; there are periods when they need to be restored

- Once a person has given all they have, they need to rest and restore

restorative environmental design

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restorative environmental design Theory of Restorative Environments • Protective: Includes walls, roofs, etc; protects from heat, elements, animals, etc.

- basic need for shelter • Instorative: Includes having heat, indoor water, access

- not necessary for survival • Restorative: Goes beyond basic needs to the level of restoration

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs • Physiological: breathing, food, water, sex, sleep, homeostasis, excretion • Safety: security of body, employment, resources, morality, family, healthy, property • Love // Belonging: friendship, family, sexual intimacy • Esteem: self-esteem, confidence, achievement, respect of others, respect by others • Self - Actualization: morality, creativity, spontaneity, problemsolving, lack of prejudice

Psychological Theories of Restoration • Attention Restoration Theory [Kaplan and Kaplan]:

- Restoration attention by getting away to restore fascination

- The more stress there is in the environment, the less ability you have to focus on something

- Must get up, walk around, rest, and then come back to it; just need space to continue working • Psychoevolutionary Theory [Ulrich and others]:

- Stress reduction for beneficial change [shows up in body measures – heart rate]

- Get rid of environmental stressors in the environment to be able to continue to adapt • Elements of restorative design:

- Include benign [things that people like], protect from danger, have multiple restorative effects happening at once, use views, art, lighting, fresh air, trickling water

restorative environmental design

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restorative environmental design Indoor - Outdoor Relationship • Windows connect building occupants [inside and outside] to the surrounding nature and ecological environment

- Views of nature

- Daylight and Sunlight [circadian rhythm regulation]

- Passive Heating and Cooling

- Natural Comfort

- Outdoor Spaces and Activities

- Seasons and Climate • The challenge for designer is to not only connect indoor spaces with the outdoors, but to carefully integrate the natural diversity of the region:

- Consider and incorporate a site or region’s unique climate, seasons textures, sounds, smells and diversity of landscape

Social Ecology of Stress • People continuously cycle between stress and restoration; these cycles are regulated by routines [keep the routine the same because when stressed it changes, i.e. not eating healthy, or exercising enough] • Economic and technological concerns influence activity level as well as gender, economic status, etc.

• Implications of activity cycles:

- Multiple settings are needed, with connections between settings

- Alone time and social time

Healthy Children

• Claire Cooper, Marcus and Robin C. Moore

- Direct experience in nature [collecting frogs or fireflies - organic, natural things] is becoming a much more limited experience as kids get older and as more and more technologies are introduced to children • Indirect experience in nature [take the class to the zoo - structured] • Vicarious experience in nature [through TV shows, books, animation symbolic]

Children and Nature • A study done by Kahn and Kellert 2002 yielded that environments that support children’s outdoor activity improve well being

• The health benefits of nature exposure to children include:

- Increased physical activity

- Improved immune system functioning

- Increased sense of play

healthy planet, healthy children

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healthy planet, healthy children Health Benefits for Children Four Groups of Development: • Aesthetic Development: helps your imagination, symmetry, balance, order, underlying patterns.

• Dominionistic Development: cope with adversity.

• Humanistic Development: ability to trust other people, engage in intimacy.

• Moralistic Development: good and bad, having meaning/purpose in your life.

Biophilic Urban Design • The majority of people live in cities and urban environments, thus the norm has become a concrete jungle with limited exposure to nature • Designers must create opportunities for nature contact:

- Green Roofs

- Public Parks

- Walking and Bike Trails

- Recreation Areas

- Dog Parks •To increase the “activity friendliness” of urban neighborhoods for children we must consider:

- School and Park Planning

- Location of Side Walks

- Residential Density

- Site Planning

- Recreational Destinations

urban design

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ecocommunities Ecocommunities + Exocommunities

• An ecocommunity is an intentional community whose goal is to become more socially, economically, and ecologically sustainable • Village Homes is an ecocommunity, the first fully solar powered housing development in the U.S., built in California - 1976

- Parking located in the back

- Houses face green spaces

- Children are involved in food growing and harvesting • Ecocommunities are contrasted with exocommunities, which are the primary type of community in the U.S. • Exocommunities eliminate things that could be perceived as “dangerous” or disrupt the appearance of neighborhood, consequently prohibiting expression and play:

- Prohibit tree houses and basketball hoops

- Prohibit chalk on side walks

- Prohibit camping and trailers

What Makes You Educated?

• David Orr wrote on what you need to know to consider yourself an educated person [how to understand your place in the world]: • Principles:

- Carrying capacity: max population an environment can sustain

- Thermodynamics: energy can change but cannot be destroyed

- Basic laws of ecology: everything is connected to everything

else, nature always wins, nothing comes from nothing

- Energetics: the study of energy and how it transforms

- Least-cost, end-use analysis: what is the best//cheapest way to

do something

- How to live well in a place: what are you contributing to where

you live?

- Appropriate scale: do you have what you need to survive[more//

less?]

- Limits of technology: texting and typing limit newer generations

- Sustainable agriculture/forestry: knowing how to farm in a

sustainable manner

- Steady state economics: relies on growth of economy always

- Environmental ethics: we do not own the earth

Everyday on Planet Earth:

• We lose 116 square miles of rain forest, 72 square miles to encroaching deserts, 40-100 species, and the human population will increase by 250,000 people.

education

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domains of biomimicry Domains of Biomimicry • Objects -> Form:

- Flippers of the humpback whale to make wind turbines

- Copying of the form • Attributes -> Process:

- Concrete – chemical reaction that releases a lot of heat and carbon dioxide

- Formation of coral doesn’t release any chemicals… used this same process to make concrete to eliminate the carbon dioxide • Relationships -> System:

- Symbiosis [coexistence of diverse organisms which benefit one another]

- Waste = Food

- Vermaculture [compost pile]

Ideas for [Re]connecting • Test your skills of observation – sketch something to understand it, not to sketch to sketch • Make a sound map [close your eyes and listen] • Look for patterns in nature • Sit in front of organisms or natural object [sketch only the shading – draw without lines] • Track change over time • Translate what you see [diagram energy flows, diagramming form, process, systems, etc.]

Life’s Principles • Life on earth in interconnected and interdependent

- Evolve to survive

- Be resource efficient

- Adapt to changing conditions

- Integrate development with growth

- Be locally attuned and responsive

- Use “life-friendly” chemistry

[re]connect to nature

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individual intervention Gecko: • Adhesive based from a structure • Looks at structure of gecko’s foot King Fisher: • Eliminate sound in Bullet Train • Looks at form and process of King Fisher entering water soundlessly Box Fish: • Aerodynamics and movement • Mercedes created a car based on form Water Lily and Lotus Leaf: • Self-cleaning properties • Types of paint that clean themselves to help preserve buildings longer Forest Floor: • Interface flooring • Looking at the forest floor for camouflage

Prompt

• Design a carpet pattern based on nature and how biophilia can be implemented into the design

Design Requirements • Using the provided floor plan of a standard Ballroom & Pre-function area, create a design solution of your choice considering the following: - Ballroom & Pre-function areas are to be designed as separate components, each area divided by transition stripes in the doorways - Ballroom & Pre-function designs are to be different but designed to coordinate.

Durkan carpet design challenge

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Durkan carpet design challenge Design Development • Honey comb is the driving force behind my first carpet design concept. The geometric shapes and forms within the structure connect and create a sense of rhythm. • Layering occurs naturally in nature. The effects of laying in design can impact a space. Lighting layers provide a space with depth and highlight key areas.

Design Development • Wood grain was the inspiration I took from nature for my second carpet design concept. The natural lines and irregularities within a section view of wood were intriguing to me and showed a sense of movement and direction. • The line movement was used in my carpet design to direct the user and the eye through the space. The use of repetition and muted colors were used to unify and simplify the design.

Durkan carpet design challenge

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global food design challenge “Food. It’s not just the way we fuel our bodies, but perhaps the most intimate way we interact with our environment.

Everything we eat comes from nature, and begins as something growing on land or at sea.”

Prompt

• Look to the abundance of lessons nature has to offer and develop a biomimetic design that solves an important food system challenge while supporting the health of our planet.

Food System Challenge

• Water contamination due to excessive toxic metals such as lead, mercury, and copper.

• Heavy metals can have adverse health and environmental effects • Current methods of removing heavy metals from water are expensive, and some substances used in the process are toxic themselves.

PuraFruit • Our goal is to mimic the natural filtration properties and characteristics of various fruit peels and skins, such as bananas, tomatoes, and apples and implement them into a tea-bag like filtration apparatus that would remove toxic heavy metals from contaminated water. • Minced banana peels, along with the skin from tomatoes and apples has been proven to quickly remove lead and copper from river water as well as, or better than, many other materials. • We hope to use the PuraFruit teabags in lower- and middleincome countries that suffer from heavy metal water contamination [India, Bangladesh and Indonesia] in order to decrease and eliminate the high levels of contaminated water related deaths.

global food design challenge

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natural observation

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p. 16: http://www.deemerzenergy.com/first-steps/ https://allyouneedisbiology.wordpress.com/category/ http://www.gglo.com/perspectives/restorative-design-collective/ p. 18: http://pendidikan-anak-sejak-usia-dini.blogspot.com/2013/03/teknik-konseling-melatih-anak-agar.html http://alternativainformacije.com/2015/02 p. 19: http://www.slovenskenovice.si/lifestyle/zdravje/ http://www.123rf.com/photo_4384356_happy-healthy-little-girl-eating-vegetables--chompinga-carrot--isolated.html p. 20: https://lockerdome.com/wakeupworld/8048762203539220 http://spaldingparksandrec.com/parks_airport.php http://cityofcarrollton.com/index.aspx?page=2078 p. 21: http://www.permacultured.us/2010/05/village-homes-of-davis-california p. 23:https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/YpPYcvSzIZL90CKNXuLIDgAsfgfkQiLHer9Co6yNjEbrtsQYPby1DqWk6qGtdocc_1wPVQ=s138 p. 25: http://design.epfl.ch/piraeus/tag/cs http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/24272/title/Mercedes-and-the-boxfish/ http://www.architectureanddesign.com.au/news/interface-reveals-carpet-tile-range-inspiredby-fo p. 26: http://maverickflooring.com/?attachment_id=307 p. 27: https://dishuman.com/links/ p. 28: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/122019471130654066/ p. 29: http://1dpw.com/archives/38554 http://challenge.biomimicry.org http://www.businessinsider.in/ p. 30: http://challenge.biomimicry.org/challenge

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jessie bean

12 COFFEETOWN RD DEERFIELD, NH 03037 JBEAN03@VT.EDU

virginia tech

SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE + DESIGN INTERIOR DESIGN