To What Extent Is Biophilia Implemented in the Built Environment to Improve Health and Wellbeing?—State-of-the-Art Review and a Holistic Biophilic Design Framework

Abstract

As human beings have detached themselves from natural environments by spending most of their time indoors, they have also distanced themselves from the positive experiences that nature provides. Sick building syndrome, nature deficit disorder amongst others, are examples of the impact of separating the built environment from nature. Biophilia is an innate affiliation to nature which stems from our evolutionary history, vital for sustaining health and wellbeing. Biophilic concepts have been explored from biophilic cities to biophilic hospitals. However, existing biophilic research is fragmented. In the last few decades, energy efficiency and carbon emissions have increased in importance for low environmental impact design, nonetheless, there is a need for more research in biophilic buildings which are beneficial to our health and wellbeing as well as causing less harm to the environment. This paper aims to investigate the application of biophilia in building design practices for improved health and wellbeing. Firstly, biophilic theoretical frameworks developed by leading biophilic experts have been examined and compared to health and wellness performance certifications such as WELL Building and Living Building Challenge (LBC) standards. Finally, a holistic biophilic framework inspired by Kellert and Calabrese has been elaborated to assess the biophilic features in the built environment. Multiple explorative case studies were employed for this paper, the findings revealed that the biophilic applications linked to direct experiences of nature were implemented inefficiently and lacked a holistic approach to improve health and wellbeing. The authors argue that biophilia needs to be included holistically to maximise the benefits of nature’s experiences.