5 minute read
A TOUCH OF NATURE
Creating a biophilic home haven
The modern home design should be the expression of the way people imagine living their life and the way they envisage their homes will embrace a healthier life and a healthier state of mind for themselves and their families.
Charles Eames once said…“Design is an expression of the purpose”, but I also believe it should be an expression of thought and imagination. And as a modern home designer, it should be about how each individual project, invokes a spark of creativity and how we can best deliver the greatest of ideas to better the lives of our clients.
With current modern home design, increasingly people are seeking that tranquil space that allows them to channel that inner peace, and as a designer, the challenge of creating spaces that help our clients get closer to that Zen-like state is not something new to architecture.
This trend continues to blossom in the architectural and interior design world, trying to better connect people with the outdoors. Known today as biophilic design – the concept is not however new, as the modernist movement also encouraged to design spaces connecting inhabitants to fresh air and natural light.
Since early modernist architecture such as Frank Lloyd Wright’s ‘Falling Water’ and Mies van de Rohe’s ‘Barcelona Pavilion’, architects have been trying to connect their designs to their sites and creating the transparency of the built form to the natural world around them.
Integrating biophilic design philosophy in places where we live and work can enhance our well-being, especially as we spend more time inside and plugged into the virtual world rather than the natural world around us. Simply by incorporating some key biophilic design principles can dramatically improve your dream home design.
Light:
Orientation and the capture of natural daylight inside the home, infinitely contributes to the overall health and well-being of its occupants. Maximizing natural light through sensible and thoughtful design not only benefits people but also reduces energy consumption and our carbon footprint. Daylight changes throughout the day enhancing the visual comfort of its dweller and watching the light change and bounce through the home can cause natural patterns and forms, movements and shadows which can be an added feature to the design.
Air:
Natural ventilation is essential to human comfort and productivity. By incorporating cross ventilation, verandas, window shrouds, balconies, and larger openings, designers strive to bring encourage air flow, thus improving comfort. Also consider the orientation of your site and how the elements (wind) interact with your proposed design, thus selecting the appropriate location of outdoor areas by protecting them from the elements and making them more alluring.
Water:
Whether it is the sound of cascading water or the view of light shimmering off its surface, water is essential to life and embracing these features in our concrete jungles and can enhance overall wellbeing and health. A view of any water body or the incorporation of a fountain or even the smallest fishbowl can elevate our mood instantly and enhance the user experience within. The water element in any building has a soothing effect and the sound created by even a small fountain can reduce blood pressure and heart rate.
Plants and Animals:
Whether it is the sound of cascading water or the view of light shimmering off its surface, water is essential to life and embracing these features in our concrete jungles and can enhance overall wellbeing and health. A view of any water body or the incorporation of a fountain or even the smallest fishbowl can elevate our mood instantly and enhance the user experience within. The water element in any building has a soothing effect and the sound created by even a small fountain can reduce blood pressure and heart rate.
Plants and Animals:
If your site is lucky enough to have even the smallest amount of natural vegetation and flowering plants, this can be one of the most important elements of bringing the experience of nature into our built environment and by experiencing bird and wildlife from inside the home, we can create a sense of serenity through design which is often absent in the everyday urban environment.
As such, embrace this aspect with your house design and along with your landscape design, biophilic design principles can play an important role and help tranquilize our minds.
Considering all these factors, our team at Graham Jones Design take great care when presented with a new project, and ensure when visiting each and every site, we consider not only how our clients want to live in their dream home, but what opportunities their site may offer and how we can best harness and connect to them to create the best design solution.
Call us on 0477 394 864 and organise a time to come into our new office at 137 Shoreham Rd Red Hill.
At Graham Jones Design, we would love to chat about your next project and how we can bring your dream home to reality. We Design For Life!
