Biophilic Design Applications: Putting Theory and Patterns into Built Environment Practice

TLDR

Biophilia posits an innate human affinity for nature, and biophilic design translates this into sustainable built‑environment strategies, yet little research has examined how to retrofit existing urban fabric with these principles. This paper reviews biophilic design applications in Australia, assessing scope, health‑wellbeing literature, the 14 Patterns, and emerging performance measures, while proposing a new design pattern. The authors conduct a literature review of Australian biophilic design, analyze the 14 Patterns and performance metrics, and develop a novel pattern to evaluate its potential impact on built‑environment practice and occupants.

Abstract

<p>In 1984 E.O. Wilson (1984) introduced and popularized the <em>Biophilia</em> hypothesis defining <em>biophilia</em> as "the urge to affiliate with other forms of life" (Kellert & Wilson 1995: 416).<sup> </sup>Wilson’s <em>biophilia</em> hypothesis suggests that there is an instinctivebond between human beings and other living systems. More recently, in the USA, Browning <em>et al</em> (2014) have proposed ‘14 Patterns of Biophilic Design’ within a framework for linking the human biological sciences and nature to built environment design offering a series of tools for enriching design opportunities, and avenues for design applications as a way to effectively enhance the health and well-being of individuals and society. While <em>biophilia</em> is the theory, <em>biophilic design</em> as advocated by Kellert <em>et al</em> (2008) and Beatley (2010) internationally offers a sustainable design strategy that seeks to reconnect people with the ‘natural environment’. Overall, from what little research has been undertaken internationallly in the last 10 years, there is a solid understanding as to the applied application of this theory, its principles and processes to built environment design and no research about to how to retrofit the existing urban fabric using this approach. This paper reviews the application of <em>biophilic design</em> in Australia, including the scope of design, health and wellbeing literature, the ‘14 Patterns of Biophilic Design’ and performative measures now unfolding, brings forward a new <em>Biophilic Design</em> Pattern, and considers the value the approach offers to built environment practice as well as to human and non-human occupants.</p>