Ok, so what is Biophilic Design? Popularised in the 1984 book by biologist Edward O. Wilson, it argues that we, as humans, yearn for a connection with nature. Biophilic Design is the effort to address this yearning and provide us with the opportunity to be at one with nature, for greenery to be built into our everyday environments, including work and home.

For GreenAir, Biophilic Design is what we do. For us, it is more than just a concept. It is a part of our DNA; it is a part of my history.

I was raised to coexist with nature. My father was a park ranger, and I spent much of my youth outdoors, learning about plants and the environment. My family has always grown edible gardens from the backyard. In my home, fruit, herbs and vegetables didn’t come from the supermarket. As a child there was always chores to do in the garden and a passion grew inside me for the concept of farm to plate. For my family, the outdoors and our gardens are about growing connection, gardening at home to produce, cook and eat nutritious food and to be surrounded by the healing and creative living world.

My team and I understand the science of Biophilic Design and the feeling of a day spent in nature. I’m certain you all do too. It’s restorative, it helps you breathe again after a busy week, and it makes you think big. While nothing replaces the outdoors, Biophilic Design helps to bring these responses into the office environment.

An easy way to visualise Biophilic Design is in your own workplace. Imagine a space where plants, water or natural elements share your office environment, this could include installations like green walls, living roofs and edible indoor gardens. In addition, wood, natural stone, earthy colours or textured surfaces evoke the idea of our natural environment. Looking out your window you would see views of nature to help the natural world seem closer and almost within your space. Sounds relaxing doesn’t it!

At GreenAir, we’re taking it a step further, beyond green walls. We are growing urban gardens within office environments. Turning empty roof space into gardens to grow edibles and then training staff on the benefits of growing your own produce and how to do it. We are going into hotels, like the new Hotel Grand Chancellor, and helping them turn their lobby into a space that celebrates greenery. Not just potted plants scattered throughout, but unstructured, unclipped gardens allowing plants to grow freely into a natural, diverse, more wild appearance.

We deliver small and large solutions for all environments and projects. If you are interested in learning more about Biophilic Design or how it can help your workspace – contact the team at GreenAir.