Nature Preserved - The Ultimate Guide to Preserved Plants

This week, the Journal of Biophilic Design is excited to announce the launch of our latest monograph, Nature Preserved: The Definitive Guide to Preserved Plants, written by Edgardo Rossi, known in the industry as The Green Man. The book takes a close look at preserved plants not simply as beautiful botanical material, but as a serious medium within interior and biophilic design. For Edgardo, the starting point is: go to the space before choosing the plants. His experience has taught him that the material is rarely the real problem. The problem is often the project. A beautiful render can make almost anything look possible, but a designer needs to understand what the building is actually asking of the vegetation. Where does the sunlight fall? Where are the heat zones? What is the humidity doing? Where are the air-conditioning vents? Where will people touch, brush past or knock into the installation? How will the space behave throughout the year? “You cannot use any plant in any space,” Edgardo explains. His own experience—including a challenging hotel project in Milan—taught him that plant selection has to respond to conditions rather than hope that the material will somehow adapt.This is also why he is careful not to position preserved plants as a replacement for living plants. If a space can genuinely support living vegetation, with the light, water, care and ownership model required to keep it healthy, then living plants should be used. The problem begins when living plants are forced into environments that cannot sustain them without constant intervention. Edgardo calls this “anti-forcing” rather than anti-living plants. Preserved plants have a particular role: bringing real botanical material into spaces where living vegetation would become difficult, wasteful or operationally burdensome. Deep interiors, difficult-access areas, ceilings, columns and other challenging locations can sometimes benefit from this approach. And, importantly, preserved plants can coexist with living plants within the same project.But perhaps the most important part of Edgardo’s work lies behind the greenery. The Green Lock System begins where plant preservation ends. Preserved botanical material arrives as an ingredient; the designer still has to build something with it. Edgardo’s approach considers the complete assembly: preserved plants, a bio-based carrier and bio-based adhesive where required. His system uses expanded cork as the carrier, with the botanical material mechanically inserted and locked into the structure rather than simply being hidden behind a petrochemical-based substrate. For Edgardo, this is about more than sustainability. It is about material honesty. “If the greenery is real and behind there is a plastic carrier,” he argues, “there is no coherence.” The carrier becomes part of the material claim, part of the indoor environment and part of the eventual end-of-life story. Because the assembly can be taken apart, elements can potentially be refreshed, reused or repurposed rather than simply discarded. That thinking extends to human health. Preserved plants are not air-cleaning machines, and Edgardo is careful not to make claims they cannot support. Their value is their real botanical presence: texture, materiality, experience and a connection to nature within the spaces where people spend so much of their lives. Those spaces include schools, offices, hospitals and retirement homes—places where designers are making decisions that affect many people every day.This is ultimately what Nature Preserved sets out to do. It brings greater clarity to a category that Edgardo believes is still widely misunderstood, challenging exaggerated claims while giving designers, specifiers, growers and manufacturers a shared language for discussing preserved plants more professionally. And perhaps his most memorable vision comes at the end of our conversation. Asked what he would do with a magic brush of biophilia, Edgardo says he would skip the lobbies—the places that are already photographed—and take nature to the people who rarely get to experience it: the child in an urban school, the resident of a retirement home, the worker on a floor where daylight barely reaches. Not an image of nature. Not plastic. Real vegetation. Nature Preserved: The Definitive Guide to Preserved Plants is available as a free monograph from the Journal of Biophilic Design. Download your copy here: https://journalofbiophilicdesign.com/shop/nature-preserved-the-definitive-guide-to-preserved-plants-monograph-2Find out more about the free Monographs we publish :  https://journalofbiophilicdesign.com/biophilic-design-monographs What is Biophilic Design? https://journalofbiophilicdesign.com/what-is-biophilic-design Want a free copy of the Journal? Visit: https://journalofbiophilicdesign.com/free-materials-issue  Credits: with thanks to George Harvey Audio Production for the calming biophilic soundscape that backs all of our podcasts. Listen to our podcast on Audible, Amazon Music, Spotify, iTunes, YouTube and all the RSS feeds.https://www.facebook.com/journalofbiophilicdesign/https://www.linkedin.com/company/journalofbiophilicdesign/https://www.instagram.com/journalofbiophilicdesignIf you like this,please subscribe!

What happens when we step away from the noise of everyday life and enter a space designed to help us restore and reconnect? For holistic wellbeing expert Ali Oetjen, the answer begins with something fundamental: safety. Ali is founder of Ali Wellness in Australia and an internationally recognised holistic wellbeing expert. Through meditation, breathwork, retreats and immersive experiences, she helps people reconnect with themselves, each other and the natural world. Her work explores personal transformation, nervous-system regulation and the relationship between human wellbeing and the environments we inhabit. Ali creates retreats and workshops designed to help people step out of their habitual routines and reconnect with themselves.  She describes what happens when people leave behind the familiar cues and patterns of everyday life and enter an environment consciously designed for restoration. “They come into a new space and this space is usually designed for safety, for regulation, for healing, for their optimum health,” she explains. Once those familiar environmental cues are removed, people can begin to make more conscious choices, question old habits and, importantly, reconnect with what they are feeling within themselves. And nature is central to that process:  “Nature is so healing and it really resonates safety within us,” she says. We are not separate from nature, she argues; our relationship with it is fundamental to how we experience the world. That connection doesn't necessarily require an elaborate retreat or a journey into the wilderness. Looking up at the sky, hearing birdsong, feeling natural materials beneath our hands, noticing the smell of trees or simply walking outdoors can all become sensory reminders of connection. “Simple things can even regulate our nervous system,” Ali says. Looking up at the sky, she suggests, can send signals to the nervous system associated with the parasympathetic, restorative state. Natural sounds, fresh air and the sensory qualities of the outdoors can similarly contribute to a feeling of safety and calm. This has important implications for the spaces we design. Light, temperature, air quality, acoustics, materials, smell and even silence are not merely aesthetic considerations. They form the sensory environment in which our bodies and minds operate. Ali points to natural light as particularly important, both for circadian rhythms and mood, while comfortable temperatures and fresh, clean air can help create an environment in which people can relax rather than remain on alert.“It’s all a sensory experience,” she says. Natural wood, the smell of eucalyptus, essential oils, fresh air and the textures of natural materials can all provide cues that remind us of something deeply familiar. “It’s all that connection. That keeps reminding us of home.”That word — home — feels significant. The most restorative environments are those that allow our bodies to recognise something familiar, safe and deeply human. The relationship between nature and wellbeing is also, for Ali, much more than a question of what nature can do for us. It is reciprocal. When she walks among trees, she doesn't think only about what she might receive from the natural world. She thinks about what she can give back.  She describes walking among the trees on the Sunshine Coast, greeting them and noticing the different environments around her. Nature becomes a relationship rather than a resource — something to engage with, listen to and care for. Nature, she believes, can also act as a mirror for our own lives: “When we see the chaos and the beauty expressed in nature, we can also see that within ourselves,” she says. Trees and landscapes remind us that growth isn't always linear. Trees shed their leaves. Seasons change. Landscapes transform. There are periods of dormancy, darkness and renewal. Nature offers a different rhythm from the constant pressure to perform, produce and remain switched on. This is particularly important in our lives increasingly dominated by screens, traffic, artificial light and constant stimulation. Ali's vision of the ultimate wellbeing retreat captures this philosophy perfectly: huge trees, sleeping among the canopy, bamboo and natural materials, flowing water, foraging, swimming, natural sounds and waking with the sunrise. Even the exercise would involve giving something back to the local environment and community. It is an almost entirely sensory experience — and a reminder that wellbeing isn't something that happens only in the mind. This is what biophilic design can do. It helps us create places that help us remember what it feels like to be human, and ultimately, remember the connection we have with the natural world: “We are not separate, we are nature.” International Design ConversationsThese ideas will form part of a wider conversation at the upcoming International Design Conversations, convened by Australian landscape architect and urban designer James Worth, founder of Worth Design Co-Lab. Through the series, James brings together leading international voices across architecture, landscape architecture and sustainability to explore the future of the built environment, with his own work focused on living architecture, regenerative design and urban resilience.The breadth of the biophilic design conversation has now become so significant that the next programme has been divided into two connected events. IDC05A: Biophilic Hospitality, Wellness & Regenerative Tourism, takes place online on 22 October, exploring destinations designed to restore people, place and planet. The conversation brings together perspectives spanning hospitality, wellness, regenerative tourism, neuroscience, nature, natural materials, ecological design and sensory experience, including specialists in tropical bamboo architecture from Bali.The second conversation, IDC05B, follows on 5 November, turning the focus towards how biophilic principles can improve the environments people experience every day. Both conversations are free to attend and bring together an international group of architects, designers, landscape professionals and wellbeing experts around a shared question: how can our relationship with the natural world help us create healthier, more restorative places? As James puts it, the conversation ultimately comes back to people, place and planet — restoration and regeneration. James Worth, Worth Design Co-Lab | Australia www.worthdesign.com.au⁠Ali Oetjen, Ali Wellness | Australia, www.alioetjen.com⁠To listen to the podcast we did before visit: https://journalofbiophilicdesign.com/podcast-journal-of-biophilic-design/how-do-we-make-our-increasingly-dense-cities-healthier-greener-and-more-resilient What is Biophilic Design? https://journalofbiophilicdesign.com/what-is-biophilic-design Want a free copy of the Journal? Visit: https://journalofbiophilicdesign.com/free-materials-issue

What happens when we stop designing buildings only for what they do, and start designing them for how they make us feel?For architect and sustainability leader Robert Hopkins, it is a question that has shaped more than 25 years of practice. From the Spine for the Royal College of Physicians to the extraordinary forest at the heart of the Thrive Health and Wellbeing Centre in Salford, Robert’s work brings together sustainability, health, nature and people in ways that feel both deeply considered and surprisingly intuitive.His journey began at university, when a group of students watched the Bullring shopping centre in Birmingham being demolished to make way for another shopping centre and thought: “This is absolutely potty.” They wondered whether there was another way, and set up their own sustainability studio, exploring the reuse of buildings and the environmental issues that mattered to them.That instinct to question the obvious has stayed with him. Initially focused heavily on building performance, Robert says that around ten years ago he began to refocus his efforts on a different question: how do people actually feel when they are in these really interesting buildings?That shift towards people and health has become central to his understanding of biophilic design.“For me, biophilia was actually about accessibility,” he explains. Not whether people can physically get into and around a building, but whether they can access it neurologically: whether they can feel comfortable, feel themselves and feel happy in the space. “It was actually just about taking a step back and thinking what really makes people feel really good somewhere.”The Spine, in Liverpool, became an extraordinary opportunity to put that thinking into practice. The building was developed with the Royal College of Physicians, a client that challenged the design team to provide evidence for the decisions they were making. Robert introduced the WELL Standard, but the process quickly became something much deeper than collecting accreditation points.Because the College’s own members and fellows had authored much of the medical research underpinning the standard, Robert and his team were able to speak directly to the people behind the research — and challenge it.Although both The Spine and Daphne Steele have both achieved WELL platinum, “we weren't actually that bothered about the score that we got at all,” he said. Instead at each stage, his team kept asking why it mattered to people.That thinking filtered down into thousands of decisions. Materials is something that we in Biophilic Design focus on. On the Spine, they set rule: “If you could touch it, it's real.” Materials were chosen for their authenticity, biophilic quality and longevity, recognising that spending a little more at the outset could create an interior that would remain good for decades.Other rules they worked to was that nobody would sit more than seven metres from a window and a view. Light was carefully considered, including a façade designed to create the effect of dappled light associated with Japanese forest bathing. Plants were selected for their ability to help remove toxins from the atmosphere based on research from NASA. Air filtration, food, lighting and even the possibility of birdsong were considered as part of the wider experience.The result is a building where, Robert observes, people behave differently. “Everyone's really nice to one another. And everyone talks to one another.” That matters. This is evidence that Biophilic Design can change behaviour.The same principle runs through Thrive, the University of Salford’s Health and Wellbeing Centre, where Robert and his team approached trauma-informed design from the very beginning. The brief started with a blank sheet of paper and a request to create an environment that encourages and supports trauma-informed care.The team explored the research and broke the idea down into practical principles, beginning with a felt sense of safety. That influenced everything from how people arrive at the building to the routes they can take through it.Putting people firstRather than automatically placing people into a large, dramatic entrance space, Thrive offers alternative routes. There are different kinds of waiting spaces, different acoustics and different levels of enclosure. Choice and empowerment become part of the architecture.In consultation rooms, patients can adjust the lighting themselves. They can even choose to move to an outdoor terrace during a consultation. These are small interventions, but Robert is interested in what they do psychologically. The point is not to tick a WELL requirement for adjustable lighting but is to give someone control.“It’s not for me to say what makes you feel comfortable,” he says. “All I have to do is have an adjustable light.”That empathy extends beyond individual buildings. When master planning around the Daphne Steele Building in Huddersfield, Robert’s team deliberately moved away from thinking about developments in terms of square footage. They considered what makes a place feel alive, connected and human.Buildings were broken up so that people could see one another. Outdoor spaces and terraces were distributed throughout the development. Social spaces were created not just around buildings but within them and on their edges.Because, Robert believes, when you bring people together with the right ingredients in place, “eventually they do actually start being nice to one another.”Perhaps the most revealing insight into his process is that this starts with listening. “Every voice matters,” he says. When developing Thrive, the team interviewed more than 100 people before designing anything. They offered different ways of participating — in-person cafés, virtual cafés, physical and virtual meetings. They wanted people to be in their comfort zone so they could understand not simply the answer they thought the designers wanted to hear, but what could actually make a difference to them.It is this approach that makes Robert’ advice to other designers so simple.“Don't chase points.” Instead, look at the research. Understand why something matters. Focus on the human outcome. “If you totally focus your efforts on the why,” he says, “then the accreditation just falls out at the end.”There is no single formula for biophilic design. Robert is clear that every project is different. His team may have developed a consistent framework, but “we never do the same thing twice.” The research, the place, the client and the people all change — and the design has to respond.To find out more about the individual projects visit: https://www.ahr.co.uk/projects/the-spinehttps://www.ahr.co.uk/projects/thrive-health-and-wellbeing-centre-school-of-health-and-societyhttps://www.ahr.co.uk/projects/medipark-blackburnhttps://www.ahr.co.uk/projects/emily-siddon-buildinghttps://www.ahr.co.uk/projects/daphne-steele-buildingAnd if you sign up to the Journal of Biophilic Design free newsletter (for news, evens, discounts, networking, case studies, research, etc) before 14 September you have the chance of winning memberships worth £89.99 ! https://mailchi.mp/journalofbiophilicdesign.com/50-free-subscription-promotionWhat is Biophilic Design? https://journalofbiophilicdesign.com/what-is-biophilic-designWant a free copy of the Journal? Visit: https://journalofbiophilicdesign.com/free-materials-issueCredits: with thanks to George Harvey Audio Production for the calming biophilic soundscape that backs all of our podcasts. Listen to our podcast on Audible, Amazon Music, Spotify, iTunes, YouTube and all the RSS feeds.https://www.facebook.com/journalofbiophilicdesign/https://www.linkedin.com/company/journalofbiophilicdesign/https://www.instagram.com/journalofbiophilicdesignIf you like this,please subscribe!

As our cities grow, access to clean air, clean water, biodiversity and meaningful connections with nature will become ever more important. In this conversation, we explore living architecture, green infrastructure, urban density, clean air and water — and how we can design cities that work better for both people and the planet. In this episode, we’re joined by James Worth, a landscape architect whose work is focused on finding practical, sustainable solutions for the future of our built environment.James is particularly passionate about Green Infrastructure and living architecture.James has also launched a very exciting series of roundtable online discussions: International Design Conversations. They started on Thursday 13 August and continue all year, I am joining one in October Biophilic Hospitality, Wellness & Regenerative Tourism 22 October 2026 What happens when we stop thinking of nature as something we add to a building and start thinking about it as part of the infrastructure of the city itself? For landscape architect James Worth, the answer lies in bringing disciplines, ideas and people together — and fundamentally rethinking how we design our urban environments.James has loads of experience spanning parks and gardens, civic spaces, urban design, ecology and biodiversity.   James believes landscape architecture has a critical role to play in creating healthier, more resilient cities. As urban populations grow, access to clean air, clean water, biodiversity, shade and meaningful connections with nature cannot remain an afterthought. “There is the risk of green for aesthetic only,” he says, warning against greenwashing that makes a development look sustainable without delivering genuine environmental function. The answer is to go beyond the appearance of greenery and consider how landscape systems actually work, managing water, reducing heat, supporting biodiversity and reconnecting people with nature. “It’s very hard to retrofit trees and walls and roofs,” he points out. This is why landscape architects need to be part of the conversation from the beginning. Trees, rain gardens, green roofs, green walls, water systems and communal spaces cannot simply be retrofitted once the buildings have been designed.     That philosophy is also behind James’ International Design Conversations, a series of online round-table discussions bringing together voices from different disciplines, cultures and areas of expertise. His motivation came partly from seeing how professional and governmental departments can operate in silos. “The best decisions come around the round table,” he says. The conversations deliberately bring academia together with private industry, alongside architects, town planners, engineers, ecologists, water specialists and biologists. “We can all advance sustainability together at a micro and macro planning level.”For biophilic designers, this interdisciplinary approach is crucial. Biophilic design helps practitioners understand the complex relationships between people, place, ecology, materials, water, climate and biodiversity. James describes this as a form of professional “symbiosis, one helping the other rather than not being mutually beneficial.” His vision for the future is not necessarily about building less densely, but about building more intelligently. Mid-rise development, green roofs, rain gardens, communal spaces, tree canopy and nature-based infrastructure can help us achieve density without creating ever more hostile concrete environments.Asked what he would create if he could paint the world with a magic brush of biophilia, James answered: “I would ensure that the places we inhabit don't take up so much space and give a lot more back to the greenery of the nature in the environment that we're living in.” That feels like a very good place to begin rethinking the city.Visit our events page to find out more: https://journalofbiophilicdesign.com/events-1Or go straight to the International Design Conversations website: https://www.worthdesign.com.au/idcOur conversation on 22 October: https://www.worthdesign.com.au/idc005Find out more about Landscape Architecture and Biophilic Design start here:  https://journalofbiophilicdesign.com/shop/journal-of-biophilic-design-issue-20-landscape-architecture-ebookWhat is Biophilic Design?  https://journalofbiophilicdesign.com/what-is-biophilic-designWin one of 50 FREE digital subscriptions to the Journal of Biophilic Design memberships worth £89.99! https://mailchi.mp/journalofbiophilicdesign.com/50-free-subscription-promotion   Credits: with thanks to George Harvey Audio Production for the calming biophilic soundscape that backs all of our podcasts. Listen to our podcast on Audible, Amazon Music, Spotify, iTunes, YouTube and all the RSS feeds.https://www.facebook.com/journalofbiophilicdesign/https://www.linkedin.com/company/journalofbiophilicdesign/https://www.instagram.com/journalofbiophilicdesignIf you like this,please subscribe! 

What if the buildings that help us tackle climate change were also the buildings that lift our spirits?We talk a great deal about the performance of buildings: how to reduce carbon, manage heat, conserve energy, deal with water and increase biodiversity. But perhaps we need to ask another question. What should these buildings look and feel like?Download a copy of the Monograph for free here: https://journalofbiophilicdesign.com/shop/living-architecture-monograph-journal-of-biophilic-design For architect and Alive Labs founder Nicky Naidu, the answer is not to choose between performance and beauty. We should expect both.Nicky has spent 20 years working in architecture, including with Foster + Partners, Arup and Wilkinson Eyre, before stepping away from conventional practice to explore different ways of living and building. His journey ultimately led to Alive Labs, where he is developing bioreceptive materials designed to allow nature to become part of architecture itself.His starting point is philosophical.“We build what we are.”For Nicky, buildings are a reflection of the societies that create them. If we want a society that values nature, connection and care, perhaps our architecture should express those values too.That thinking has led Alive Labs to develop Terranite, a bioreceptive, carbon-negative construction material designed to support biological colonisation. Rather than simply attaching vegetation to a building, the material creates a substrate in which nature can participate.Moss is central to the approach. An ancient and remarkably resilient organism, it can absorb atmospheric pollutants, retain water, contribute to water filtration and provide thermal benefits. Alive Labs' system is designed to help reduce surface temperatures, while moss can contribute to cooling through evaporative processes and insulation in colder conditions.The implications for cities are considerable. Our buildings could become part of the infrastructure that helps address urban heat, stormwater and biodiversity loss rather than simply contributing to those pressures.But there is another opportunity here – and it is one we don't discuss enough.Beauty.Naidu questions the contemporary obsession with architecture as a diagram or a highly efficient box.“No one wants to live in a diagram, right?”He points instead towards the great architectural traditions of the past: Gothic cathedrals, Renaissance buildings and ancient temples, where proportion, geometry, ornament and symbolism were connected to ideas about nature, mathematics, spirituality and the cosmos.This is particularly relevant to Biophilic Design.Why shouldn't climate-responsive buildings be beautiful? Why shouldn't cladding become an opportunity for pattern, texture, shadow, planting and delight? Why should a building envelope have to be a flat, anonymous surface?Think about Palladian architecture and its extraordinary attention to proportion and rhythm. Think about the awe created by Gothic architecture. Think about the tactile qualities of natural materials. Now imagine bringing that same ambition into the buildings of the future – using contemporary materials and living systems that also cool, insulate, capture water and support biodiversity.As Nicky puts it, “net zero alone” is not enough. The ambition should be to do more.This could change how we think about the facade. It is no longer simply a protective skin between inside and outside. It can become infrastructure: environmental, ecological, sensory and cultural.And this applies inside as well as out. Alive Labs is developing living interior systems that can bring nature into schools, hospitals, workplaces and other buildings, creating spaces that people can see, touch and experience.Perhaps this is where the next chapter of Biophilic Design lies: not simply putting nature into buildings, but designing buildings that work with nature.Because, ultimately, architecture is about more than solving today's problems.“Buildings and our expressions in them are an expression of hope.”That feels like a good place to start imagining our cities of the future.The Journal of Biophilic Design has produced a Monograph with Nicky Naidu and Alive Labs, exploring the ideas, materials and thinking behind this pioneering approach to living architecture. The Monograph is available to explore alongside our interview with Nicky. https://journalofbiophilicdesign.com/biophilic-design-monographsFind out more about Alive LabsAlive Labs: www.alivelabs.co.ukAbout the Journal of Biophilic DesignThe Journal of Biophilic Design explores the intersection of nature, science, architecture, interiors, landscape, environmental psychology, health and wellbeing – bridging the gap between research and practice.Subscribe, explore our latest issues and discover more conversations with the people shaping the future of Biophilic Design.#BiophilicDesign #AliveLabs #NickyNaidu #LivingArchitecture #BioreceptiveDesign #Architecture #SustainableArchitecture #RegenerativeDesign #UrbanDesign #Moss #GreenInfrastructure #ClimateResilience #BiomimeticDesignAnd listeners don't forget our FREE newsletter giveaway! https://mailchi.mp/journalofbiophilicdesign.com/50-free-subscription-promotionSign up before the end of August 2026 and you'll be entered into our prize draw to win one of 50 digital subscriptions to The Journal of Biophilic Design.Join thousands of readers receiving the latest biophilic design inspiration, research and projects every week. Just head to journalofbiophilicdesign.com.Have you got a copy of the Journal? You can now subscribe as a member of the Journal of Biophilic Design or purchase a gorgeous coffee table reference copy or PDF download of the Journal journalofbiophilicdesign.comor Amazon and Kindle. Credits: with thanks to George Harvey Audio Production for the calming biophilic soundscape that backs all of our podcasts. Listen to our podcast on Audible, Amazon Music, Spotify, iTunes, YouTube and all the RSS feeds.https://www.facebook.com/journalofbiophilicdesign/https://www.linkedin.com/company/journalofbiophilicdesign/https://www.instagram.com/journalofbiophilicdesignIf you like this,please subscribe!

What happens when we stop looking at a building simply as a building?For Lincoln Stoller, physicist, psychotherapist and son of celebrated architectural photographer Ezra Stoller, the answer lies somewhere between architecture, psychology, nature, photography and the human capacity to experience something beyond the immediately visible.Ezra Stoller was regarded as one of the pre-eminent architectural photographers of his generation. His extraordinary archive includes some of the most significant buildings of twentieth-century modernism, photographed not simply as objects, but as experiences. His approach was distinctive: rather than producing straightforward images designed to showcase a building, he sought something beyond it – what Lincoln describes as the “essential and ethereal.”This is particularly fascinating when we consider Frank Lloyd Wright, whose architecture is now frequently discussed through the lens of Biophilic Design, despite Wright never using the term. Wright trusted Ezra to understand what he was trying to achieve without needing to explain it. Lincoln describes their relationship as almost a meeting of opposites: Wright the forceful creator, Ezra the sensitive and receptive observer. Together, they understood something difficult to put into words – the ineffable quality of space.And perhaps this is where photography and Biophilic Design meet.We talk increasingly about awe: the experience of encountering something larger, more complex or more powerful than ourselves. In Biophilic Design, awe can be created through views, scale, natural processes, unexpected vistas, light, movement and encounters with the living world. Wright intuitively understood the power of these experiences. At Fallingwater, for example, architecture, water, landscape, movement and changing views combine to create something that is far more than a collection of rooms.Ezra's photographs similarly invite us to pause. They create vistas within vistas, playing with light, scale, confinement, openness and perspective. They ask us not simply to look, but to notice, associate, feel and imagine. As Lincoln puts it, the best photographs can call into our minds things we have not previously seen, felt or thought.That makes Eye of the Beholder more than an architectural photography book. It is an invitation to reconsider how we see the built environment – and what it might reveal about ourselves.Lincoln is currently raising support through Kickstarter to preserve Ezra Stoller's remarkable photographic archive and bring these images and their stories together in a new book. For architects, designers, photographers, students and anyone interested in the relationship between people, place and perception, it is an opportunity to encounter some familiar buildings through very different eyes.Because sometimes the most important thing a photograph can show us is not the building itself, but what the building makes us feel.** Win one of 50 digital subscriptions to the Journal of Biophilic Design, just sign up to our free newsletter throughout August 2026 sign up for the chance of winning: https://mailchi.mp/journalofbiophilicdesign.com/50-free-subscription-promotion Links mentioned in the Podcast: https://www.mindstrengthbalance.com‍ ‍https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mindstrengthbalance/from-the-eye-of-the-beholderLincoln’s Substack article “Is Architecture History or Prophecy?”, https://mindstrengthbalance.substack.com/p/is-architecture-history-or-prophesy?triedRedirect=trueWhat is Biophilic Design: https://journalofbiophilicdesign.com/what-is-biophilic-design If you love Architecture why not download our PDF on Biophilic Design and Architecture: https://journalofbiophilicdesign.com/shop/journal-of-biophilic-design-issue-17-architecture-ebook Please register for our newsletter on our website https://journalofbiophilicdesign.com/podcasts-journal-of-biophilic-design Credits: with thanks to George Harvey Audio Production for the calming biophilic soundscape that backs all our podcasts. Did you know our podcast is also on Audible, Amazon Music, Spotify, iTunes, and all the RSS feeds? Facebook https://www.facebook.com/journalofbiophilicdesign/ LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/company/journalofbiophilicdesign/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/journalofbiophilicdesign

Biophilic Design and biomimicry are often discussed as separate disciplines, yet they are deeply complementary. Biophilic Design reconnects people with nature, creating healthier places that nurture wellbeing and strengthen our relationship with the living world. Biomimicry asks a different, but equally important question: how can nature’s 3.8 billion years of evolution teach us to solve human challenges?Together they offer a blueprint for creating buildings, products and systems that help all life flourish.While architecture often looks inward for innovation, one of the most fascinating lessons for the built environment is currently emerging from an unexpected place: fashion.Amanda Sturgeon, CEO of the Biomimicry Institute, has been leading the Institute’s Nature of Fashion initiative, exploring how lessons from natural decomposition could help address one of the world’s fastest-growing environmental challenges—textile waste. Working alongside partners including The Or Foundation in Ghana, Circle Economy in the Netherlands and the Beneficial Design Institute in Germany, the project asks a deceptively simple question: what if the materials we create behaved more like nature?Nature, after all, has no landfill.Every leaf, feather, branch and shell eventually becomes food for something else. Waste is simply another stage in a continuous cycle of regeneration. Human-made materials, however, often have no such ending. Polyester, nylon and complex blended fabrics can persist for decades or centuries, creating pollution long after their useful life has ended.The Nature of Fashion project is investigating whether biological processes such as fermentation and enzymatic decomposition could safely break down difficult textile waste into valuable raw materials that can be returned to production systems rather than discarded. It is a striking example of biomimicry in action—not simply copying nature’s appearance, but learning from nature’s processes.As Amanda explains, “Nature has been learning how to do things for 3.8 billion years.”For those of us working in architecture, interiors and product design, this conversation feels remarkably familiar. The built environment has become increasingly focused on operational carbon, embodied carbon and material passports. Yet Amanda highlights another important consideration: designing for the entire lifecycle of a product or building from the very beginning.As she observes, “The implications of the things we consume and create—from their extraction to their end of life—are just not considered.”It is a challenge that extends far beyond fashion.Whether specifying flooring, acoustic panels, furniture, wall coverings or façade systems, designers make decisions every day that influence ecosystems far beyond the project boundary. Where did the material come from? What habitats were disturbed during extraction? Can it be repaired? Reused? Returned safely to biological or technical cycles?These questions are becoming just as important as aesthetics or cost.Amanda also draws fascinating parallels between fashion and architecture. Both industries begin with a design decision. Both are shaped by trends, client expectations and commercial pressures. Yet those early creative choices often determine environmental impacts decades later.The difference, she suggests, is that fashion has the ability to change rapidly.Buildings remain for generations, while clothing collections can evolve every season. This makes fashion a valuable testing ground for material innovation. From mycelium-grown textiles and protein-based fibres inspired by spider silk to structural colours that mimic the microscopic surfaces of butterfly wings and beetles without relying on toxic pigments, biomimetic innovations are already demonstrating what becomes possible when designers look to living systems rather than petrochemicals for inspiration.Many of these same innovations could influence interiors, finishes, furniture and future building materials.Perhaps Amanda’s most thought-provoking observation concerns how we measure success.Rather than focusing solely on carbon accounting, she believes we should evaluate whether our materials are genuinely positive for nature.“If we were to design and extract materials based on whether they were positive for nature, our carbon challenge would probably evaporate.”It is an essential reframing of the global debate, and one I share. I believe that the principle of Biophilia could help guide decision making in specification and design to restore life in all senses of the word.Carbon remains critically important, but people often struggle to connect emotionally with tonnes of CO₂. Biodiversity, clean rivers, healthy soils and thriving ecosystems are tangible. They remind us why these conversations matter in the first place.This is where biomimicry and Biophilic Design become natural partners.Biophilic Design helps us create places where people experience nature and benefit from that connection. Biomimicry helps us understand how nature actually functions, revealing the principles that enable living systems to thrive.Amanda sees them not as competing philosophies but as complementary approaches.“Biophilic design and biomimicry are interconnected, interwoven… they’re really based on the same premise.”We are not separate from nature—we are part of it.For designers, this represents a shift from asking How sustainable is this product? towards the better question: How can this product actively participate in life’s regenerative cycles?Whether designing a garment, a chair, a workplace or an entire neighbourhood, perhaps the most important design decision is not how something begins—but how it ends.Nature has already written the brief, are we prepared to learn from it? 🌿 Win one of 50 FREE digital subscriptions to the Journal of Biophilic Design! Enter before the end of August 2026 and enjoy access to over 20 inspiring issues exploring nature, design, architecture and wellbeing https://mailchi.mp/journalofbiophilicdesign.com/50-free-subscription-promotion https://biomimicry.org/innovation/nature-of-fashion/ Nature of Fashion Report: https://biomimicry.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Nature-of-Fashion-Report.pdf I did a podcast with Amanda before, watch and listen to it here: https://journalofbiophilicdesign.com/podcast-journal-of-biophilic-design/architect-amanda-sturgeon-on-biophilic-design-and-biomimicry https://amandasturgeon.com.au  Have you got a copy of the Journal? You can now subscribe as a member of the Journal of Biophilic Design or purchase a gorgeous coffee table reference copy or PDF download of the Journal journalofbiophilicdesign.comor Amazon and Kindle. Credits: with thanks to George Harvey Audio Production for the calming biophilic soundscape that backs all of our podcasts. Listen to our podcast on Audible, Amazon Music, Spotify, iTunes, YouTube and all the RSS feeds.https://www.facebook.com/journalofbiophilicdesign/https://www.linkedin.com/company/journalofbiophilicdesign/https://www.instagram.com/journalofbiophilicdesignIf you like this,please subscribe!

How can our buildings become active contributors to healthier lives rather than passive consumers of resources? Our cities are grappling with climate change, biodiversity loss, employee wellbeing and the changing role of the workplace, for Patrick Dumas, Founder and CEO of Square Mile Farms, the answer begins with growing food.His concept has evolved into one of the UK's largest networks of indoor urban farms, with more than 120 installations and over 75,000 plants growing inside workplaces and residential developments. Yet the plants, herbs and vegetables are only part of the story."We reconnect people with one another, with nature and with their own wellbeing," explains Patrick. "Food is simply the medium through which we do that."Biophilic Design that People can tasteBiophilic design has long focused on bringing nature into buildings through plants, natural materials, daylight and views. Square Mile Farms extends this concept into something immersive.Instead of greenery becoming passive decoration, employees become active participants. They watch herbs mature, vote on what will be grown next, harvest fresh produce together and swap recipes over lunch. The result is a multi-sensory experience that engages sight, smell, touch and taste simultaneously."The experience of biophilia is much richer," says Patrick. "It looks good, smells good, tastes good and you're using your hands. You're getting up close with nature before eating what you've grown."This aligns closely with many of biophilic design's recognised patterns, including direct experience of nature, sensory richness, connection with natural systems and seasonal change. Watching food grow over weeks reconnects people with rhythms that many urban lives have lost.Growing Community alongside VegetablesPerhaps the greatest surprise has been that the farms' most valuable harvest isn't basil or salad leaves—it's human connection.Harvest days have become social events. Employees queue to collect herbs, learn growing techniques from on-site farmers and exchange ideas about cooking and sustainability. Rather than another workplace amenity, the farms become magnets that naturally draw people together."We have people saying they come into the office because it's harvest day," he explains. "People stop buying basil from the supermarket because they know they can harvest it themselves."Square Mile Farms' team are highly visible within each building. Their farmers don't just maintain installations behind the scenes—they actively engage with occupants, teaching growing skills, discussing recipes and nurturing relationships alongside the plants themselves.Reimagining Forgotten SpacesOne of the most exciting aspects of the model is its ability to transform overlooked parts of buildings.Disused basements, redundant plant rooms, underused lobbies and vacant corners become productive landscapes that contribute to health, biodiversity awareness and workplace culture.One installation now grows around 25,000 plants beneath the headquarters of a major global company, supplying fresh produce directly to its catering operation. Suddenly, the most interesting part of the building isn't the executive floor—it's the basement.As retrofit becomes central to sustainable architecture, these interventions demonstrate that regeneration doesn't always require rebuilding. Sometimes it requires rethinking how existing space can support both people and nature.Food as Urban InfrastructureLooking ahead, Patrick believes cities should begin thinking about urban farming in the same way they now think about cycle infrastructure.Just as many buildings are expected to provide bike storage or electric vehicle charging, why shouldn't they also provide space for growing food?"If every building had provision for growing some food," he suggests, "collectively that capacity becomes quite substantial."His vision is ambitious but practical. He sees a distributed network of productive landscapes woven throughout our commercial buildings, creating healthier workplaces while reducing food miles, reconnecting people with natural systems and strengthening community resilience.It is, fundamentally, biophilic design operating at city scale.Join UsThe Journal of Biophilic Design is delighted to announce that we will soon be partnering with Square Mile Farms for a special event exploring these ideas in person.We're planning an event in the Square Mile, concluding at one of London's most remarkable indoor urban farms, where thousands of edible plants are grown beneath a commercial building to supply its occupants with fresh produce.If you'd like to hear more about this event, make sure you're subscribed to the Journal of Biophilic Design newsletter. We'll be announcing dates and booking details very soon.Next time you are specifying the planting, also look at the multi sensory aspect, and see how you can weave beautiful edibles into the design to reconnect us with food, nature, one another and the living systems that sustain us all.www.squaremilefarms.comwww.journalofbiophilicdesign.com Sign up for our FREE newsletter between now and end of August 2026 for the chance to win one of 50 digital subscriptions to the Journal of Biophilic Design https://journalofbiophilicdesign.com/subscribe-as-a-member

Thankfully… walk into almost any contemporary office and you are likely to find a few strategically positioned plants, a moss wall in reception or perhaps another biophilic feature intended to soften an otherwise corporate environment. Over the past decade, introducing greenery into workplaces has become almost synonymous with employee wellbeing. Yet according to workplace and environmental psychologist Dr Craig Knight, if organisations believe that adding a few plants alone will transform productivity, they have misunderstood the research. Craig's work at the University of Exeter, challenged one of the most enduring assumptions in workplace design, namely that the most productive offices are those that are minimalist and stripped back to their essentials. These highly controlled environments were long thought to minimise distraction and maximise concentration. His research demonstrated precisely the opposite.  Employees working in enriched environments containing plants, artwork and opportunities for personalisation consistently performed better than those working in lean, standardised offices.  “Wellbeing improved, stress reduced and productivity increased by as much as 15%.” Although plants became the headline of many reports about the research, Craig is keen to put them into context. They are not magical objects capable of transforming a workplace by themselves. Rather, they are one of the simplest and most affordable ways of enriching an environment. This is important for designers, facilities managers and employers to remember. Environmental enrichment can take many forms, including artwork, light, texture and even scent. Plants have proved particularly effective because they are relatively inexpensive, flexible and easy to introduce into existing buildings. Unlike a major refurbishment, they can transform a space almost immediately. The psychology behind their success is equally compelling. Rather than distracting employees from their work, enriched environments provide opportunities for brief moments of cognitive recovery. Looking away from a screen towards a plant or another visually engaging feature gives the brain the chance to reset before returning to the task at hand. These small interruptions help sustain attention rather than diminish it. As Craig puts it, people are happier and more productive when their surroundings offer something meaningful to engage with. Yet as our conversation developed, it became clear that the plants themselves were not the most significant finding from decades of workplace research.The real story is choice. People perform better when they have some control over the environment in which they work. The ability to personalise a desk, influence the layout of a workspace or decide where plants should be positioned may appear insignificant, but psychologically these decisions communicate something much larger. They demonstrate trust. One of the most interesting examples he describes comes from a company in Paris that invited staff to shape their own working environment. Employees created artwork, rearranged spaces, introduced planting and developed breakout areas that reflected their own personalities. There was no substantial design budget. Instead, the organisation trusted its employees to create an environment that suited the way they worked. Productivity increased, but equally important was the sense of ownership people developed towards the workplace. It became somewhere they wanted to be rather than somewhere they were required to attend. This idea of ownership runs through much of his research. Organisations often invest heavily in beautifully designed offices only to prevent employees from moving furniture, repositioning plants or displaying personal objects. In doing so, they unintentionally undermine many of the psychological benefits the design was intended to create. Craig argues that even the best designers cannot predict what will make every individual feel comfortable. A workplace should not simply reflect a corporate identity; it should also allow the identities of the people working there to emerge. "The more you can realise your own identity in your space," he says, "the better that space is."This presents an interesting challenge for architects and interior designers. Design excellence has often been measured by visual consistency and aesthetic control. Yet workplace psychology suggests that highly curated environments are not always the most successful places to work. The role of design may be less about creating a finished solution and more about creating a framework within which people can adapt spaces to suit their own needs. That philosophy extends well beyond office furniture or planting schemes. Craig is equally critical of workplace cultures that attempt to monitor every aspect of employee behaviour. Surveillance software, keystroke monitoring and rigid management structures all communicate a lack of trust, and his research consistently shows that these approaches reduce engagement rather than improve it. Organisations frequently speak about wellbeing while simultaneously removing autonomy from their workforce. The contradiction is difficult to ignore. For those working in Biophilic Design, there is another interesting lesson. The discussion around nature in buildings often focuses on the physiological benefits of plants, daylight or natural materials. Craig does not dismiss those benefits, but he repeatedly brings the conversation back to the social environment. Plants become valuable not simply because they are living organisms, but because they represent care, enrichment and, when employees are involved in choosing and looking after them, shared ownership. It is no coincidence that people often name the plants they care for in the workplace. They become part of the social fabric of an office, small but tangible reminders that the environment is alive and that someone has invested in it. Even preserved planting, increasingly common where living plants are impractical, reflects a desire to introduce texture, colour and references to nature into spaces that might otherwise feel sterile.As organisations continue to rethink hybrid working and the purpose of the office, Knight believes there is an opportunity to move beyond designing attractive workplaces only. The challenge is to create environments where people feel respected, trusted and able to contribute to the spaces they inhabit. His advice to designers:"People first. Design second." It is a principle that sits comfortably alongside Biophilic Design. Creating healthier workplaces has never been solely about filling buildings with plants. It is about designing environments that support human flourishing. Plants remain one of the most effective tools available, but they are most powerful when they become part of a wider culture that values participation, autonomy and wellbeing. In the end, the greenest workplace is not necessarily the one with the most planting. It is the one where people genuinely feel that they belong. To follow or contact Dr Craig Kight visit his Linkedin profile: linkedin.com/in/craigknightidrhttps://www.identityrealization.com His now-famous paper, The Relative Benefits of Green Versus Lean Office Space: Three Field Experiments, co-authored alongside Nieuwenhuis, M., Postmes, T., and Haslam, S., found that introducing plants into office environments could improve workplace productivity by up to 15%. Nieuwenhuis, Marlon & Knight, Craig & Postmes, Tom & Haslam, S.. (2014). The Relative Benefits of Green Versus Lean Office Space: Three Field Experiments. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied. 20. 199-214. 10.1037/xap0000024. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264395358_The_Relative_Benefits_of_Green_Versus_Lean_Office_Space_Three_Field_Experiments  Have you got a copy of the Journal? You can now subscribe as a member of the Journal of Biophilic Design or purchase a gorgeous coffee table reference copy or PDF download of the Journal journalofbiophilicdesign.com or Amazon and Kindle. Credits: with thanks to George Harvey Audio Production for the calming biophilic soundscape that backs all of our podcasts. Listen to our podcast on Audible, Amazon Music, Spotify, iTunes, YouTube and all the RSS feeds.https://www.facebook.com/journalofbiophilicdesign/https://www.linkedin.com/company/journalofbiophilicdesign/https://www.instagram.com/journalofbiophilicdesignIf you like this,please subscribe!

As Biophilic Design continues to gather momentum around the world, much of the conversation has centred on research emerging from Europe, North America and Australia. Yet one of the most powerful perspectives may come from a continent where living with nature has never been considered a design trend at all.For Wangui Mwangi, Founding Chair of the Green Biophilic Living Society and Convener of the Africa Biophilic Building Conference & Expo 2026, biophilia is less about innovation than remembering.  "Africa has always lived biophilically. Our ancestors have always lived biophilically."Wangui believes the rest of the world has much to learn from centuries of indigenous knowledge, vernacular architecture and cultural traditions that have always recognised humanity as part of nature rather than separate from it.Speaking on the Journal of Biophilic Design podcast, she describes traditional African settlements where buildings were constructed using local materials, courtyards encouraged natural ventilation, communities lived outdoors, and architecture reflected both ecological intelligence and spiritual connection.  "Nature was never separate from humanity," she explains. "Nature was part of everything that we did." That philosophy extended far beyond buildings. Food, farming, storytelling, music, clothing and community life all reinforced a reciprocal relationship with the natural world. Today, as cities across Africa expand rapidly, Wangui believes those principles are becoming more important than ever. Remembering rather than reinventingOne of the most refreshing aspects of Wangui's work is her refusal to romanticise the past."This is not about necessarily going back to building how we built in the 20s," she says. "It's about picking the techniques. It's about using the tech that we have right now and enhancing that."This blend of indigenous wisdom with contemporary innovation sits at the heart of the Green Biophilic Living Society, an organisation that has grown remarkably quickly since Wangui first began sharing her passion for biophilia on LinkedIn. After growing up surrounded by wildlife on the outskirts of Nairobi, Wangui found herself working within increasingly urban environments. She noticed she felt calmer whenever she escaped into nearby green spaces during lunch breaks. "I started Googling what is going on? Why are my afternoons better?" Discovering the science of biophilia gave language to feelings she had always understood instinctively. "I became completely passionate, obsessively passionate about wanting to share this information." That passion has now brought together architects, doctors, farmers, lawyers, policymakers, educators and developers, all recognising that healthier futures require systems thinking rather than isolated solutions. This resonates so closely with our journey here at the Journal of Biophilic Design as well. My own personal journey was linked to direct emotional and physical transformation after connecting with nature.  Why policy mattersThroughout our conversation, one theme repeatedly emerged: policy. We agreed we need to embed biophilic thinking into national building standards. "I think biophilia needs anchorage within the policy structure, within the building codes." Kenya is already making significant progress through the development of its own green building standards, where considerations such as indigenous planting, bioswales, pollinator habitats, bird feeders and water management are becoming part of mainstream conversations.This mirrors a growing international recognition that Biophilic Design is a framework capable of supporting biodiversity, climate resilience, public health and long-term economic value simultaneously.Community is infrastructurePerhaps the most moving part of our discussion came when imagining Africa twenty years from now. Rather than talking first about technology or buildings, Wangui spoke about people. She imagines neighbourhoods where courtyards encourage neighbours to gather, where children play outdoors, where communities share meals together, and where buildings function as ecosystems rather than isolated objects."I see people walking with a sense of pride and a sense of dignity... people who wake up to the sound of birds."Her vision reminds us that Biophilic Design is about relationships, between people, place and nature. Women leading the conversationOne particularly exciting development this year is the launch of Women in Biophilic Design, bringing together female leaders from across the world to discuss the future of our profession. Wangui will be joining us alongside an international panel of designers, researchers and practitioners exploring how diverse perspectives are helping shape healthier places.Reflecting on why women have become such strong voices within the movement, Wangui believes it stems from an instinctive understanding of care and stewardship. "I think the nurturing aspect of women really flows into any space that we get to hold. And that is what the world needs right now."It is a reminder that designing with nature is also about designing with empathy. Looking aheadThe inaugural Africa Biophilic Building Conference & Expo, taking place in Nairobi this August, promises to become a significant milestone in the global movement. Bringing together architects, policymakers, educators and researchers, it aims to demonstrate that Africa is not simply adopting Biophilic Design—it is helping redefine it.As Wangui says, there are still countless stories waiting to be told."The African story has not yet really been told... there's so much that has not been tapped into."The future heartbeat of Biophilic Design depends on learning from diverse cultures and ecological wisdom, I hope you join us on the 20th July for the Women in Biophilic Desing Linkedin Live, and also if you are in the African Continent of have colleagues over there, you join the Africa Biophilic Building Conference and Expo.  JOIN THE CONVERSATION: 20th July Linkedin Live – Women in Biophilic Design – sign up herehttps://www.linkedin.com/events/womeninbiophilicdesign7472703290913341440/theater/13-14 August 2026 - Africa Biophilic Building Conference and Expo – register here:  https://greenbiophiliclivingsociety.com/expo/ Have you got a copy of the Journal? You can now subscribe as a member of the Journal of Biophilic Design or purchase a gorgeous coffee table reference copy or PDF download of the Journal journalofbiophilicdesign.comor Amazon and Kindle. Credits: with thanks to George Harvey Audio Production for the calming biophilic soundscape that backs all of our podcasts. Listen to our podcast on Audible, Amazon Music, Spotify, iTunes, YouTube and all the RSS feeds.https://www.facebook.com/journalofbiophilicdesign/https://www.linkedin.com/company/journalofbiophilicdesign/https://www.instagram.com/journalofbiophilicdesignIf you like this,please subscribe!