Biophilic Design
Biophilia is our innate love of nature, and biophilic building design attempts to enhance our connection to the outdoors. A lack of this connection can noticeably affect mood, and it has even been linked to health impacts and reduced productivity.
Strategies for biophilic design include daylighting, access to views, natural ventilation, aesthetic use of biomimetic patterns, and space planning that offers prospect and refuge.
Biophilic Design
Deep Dives
Get up to speed on complex topics. You can also earn CEUs and download PDF Spotlight Reports.
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Native Landscaping for Biodiversity
Feature Article
Removal of invasive plants and support of native plantings are critically important for maintaining healthy ecosystems.
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How to Access the Full Power of Biophilia
Feature Article
People wither physically and mentally without nature. Biophilic design is a remedy and a foundation for regenerative design all at the same time.
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Green Design: What’s Love Got to Do with It?
Feature Article
Beauty, place-making, and even love are motivating many green designers, who see these values complementing core sustainability tenets.
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Doing Daylighting Right
Feature Article
Harvesting daylight is a popular way to save energy and promote productivity. But getting it wrong is all too easy-and can have the opposite effects.
Quick Takes
Jump straight to the essentials with these short explanations of green building concepts.
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Acoustic Ecology: Designing for the Ear
Explainer
By engaging our sense of hearing, and our sonological competence, design can improve our ability to listen to and know the places we inhabit.
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Biomimicry: Designing Conditions Conducive to Life
Explainer
Biomimicry offers a vitalizing framework for reconnecting designers to nature and driving innovation.
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Biophilic Design: Indulging Our Love of Life
Explainer
New biophilia metrics pin down what it means to engage the love of nature through design.
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Ecosystem Services
Explainer
Functions performed by intact ecosystems provide essential support for human life, but how do we quantify their value?
Product Guidance
Unbiased information from our product experts helps you separate green from greenwash.
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BuildingGreen Announces Top 10 Products for 2024
Product Review
BuildingGreen’s Top 10 industry-transforming products this year include innovative heat-pump energy storage, electric construction equipment, PFAS-free textiles, healthier lighting, PV circularity, and more.
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Do Living Walls Make for Cleaner Indoor Air?
Product Review
Nedlaw Living Wall Biofilters do more than most green walls to remove VOCs, but it’s unclear that they provide a true fresh air supply.
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Unmilled Timber Frames Go High Tech, Replacing Steel
Product Review
Keep the beauty of round logs, and get more strength from an engineered wood structure, promises Wisconsin-based company WholeTrees.
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Treated Wood for Ground Contact, Minus the Toxic Pesticides
Product Review
Accoya, now code-approved for fungus and termite resistance, relies on acetylation as a benign alternative to conventional pressure-treated wood.
In The News
We break news down to the essentials and provide expert analysis.
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Biophilic Design’s Financial Case Is Strong As Ever
News Brief
The pandemic popularized biophilic design, says a seminal resource, in part by emphasizing the importance of green outdoor spaces.
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COTE Top Ten for 2023 Provide Open Space Teeming with Life
News Analysis
The COTE Top Ten for 2023 promote biodiversity, equitable access to nature, and other positive outcomes for occupants, owners, and broader energy and water systems.
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Trauma-Informed Design: A New Social Equity Imperative
News Analysis
Trauma-informed design applies the principles of “trauma-informed care,” helping prevent re-traumatization while reducing stress for everyone. -
Biophilia a Hallmark of COTE Top Ten for 2020
News Analysis
2020 AIA COTE Top Ten winners feature daylight, indoor/outdoor spaces, extensive plantings, and exposed wood.
Perspective
Thought-provoking opinions from the most trusted minds in sustainability.
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Bring the Noise! It Can Help You Listen.
Op-Ed
Noise-canceling headphones and tightly sealed buildings have more in common than you might think.
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A Tribute to Robin Guenther, Green Healthcare Pioneer
Op-Ed
Robin Guenther advanced new standards for hospitals that were adopted by the larger green building community and integrated into leading rating systems.
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How Nature Creates Green Jobs—If We Listen
Blog Post
Biomimicry experts explore resilient design from environmental, social, and economic perspectives.
Learning Resources
Syllabus supplements and CEU content, with automatic reporting for AIA and GBCI.
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Wood's Latest Move: from Carbon Neutral to Climate Smart
Webcast
If we’re going to start using a lot more wood in buildings, we need to think hard about where that wood is going to come from and how it will be harvested.
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Native Landscaping for Biodiversity
Feature Article
Removal of invasive plants and support of native plantings are critically important for maintaining healthy ecosystems.
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Native Landscaping for Biodiversity
Spotlight Report
It may take hundreds or thousands of years to return to pre-industrial-age levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, but the loss of animal and plant species that is occurring today is, practically speaking, irreversible.
Just For Fun
Something weird happens every April at BuildingGreen...
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Hurricane Tests Resilient Design—and Family Dynamics
April Fools
A building project brings brothers back together, but a fast-moving storm challenges the project and the family.
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USGBC Embraces Legal Marijuana
April Fools
LEED v4.20 introduces a wide range of cannabis-oriented prerequisites.
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Award-Winning Homes Capture “Seamless Biophilia Experience”
April Fools
Seamless biophilia experience takes home Lille Arne prize.
