Did you know that biophilia landscape design reduces your stress? Biophilia landscape design means using biophilia in landscape design. In another word, biophilia landscaping is to increase a human’s connectivity to the natural environments in landscaping. A biophilic landscape design pattern builds a strong and meaningful connection with natural elements. The biophilic landscape design pattern is thought to reduce stress and enhance concentration due to a human’s visual preference for organic and biomorphic forms. Biophilic landscape design is also a concept used in landscape architecture and the building industry to reconnect persons with the natural environment by incorporating living organisms, natural lighting and organic shapes and features.
How can biophilic landscaping reduces your stress? The landscape space you inhabit has a dramatic effect on you. The landscape elicits a strong psychological, physiological and neurological response and impacts our ability to process stressors. This is directly related to how a person feels and influences stress levels. Studies show that representational images of natural features such as landscapes, gardens and water features can reduce stress.
This architecturally designed rooftop garden on the private deck of the timber-framed high-rise tower in North Loop Neighborhood of Minneapolis, MN is an example of biophilic landscape design.
How can landscape architects incorporate biophilic landscape design elements into our daily lives? Biophilic landscape design embraces more than just adding plants, flowers and vegetables. Natural light, organic textures and materials, fresh air, and views of nature are also pivotal. Studies show increased vegetation can reduce stress. Another study shows that water features in a landscape or garden can enhance positive feelings and reduce stress. Landscape architects also always choose real over fake nature, because more health benefits are achieved when one is around actual nature, since humans process natural and fabricated elements in different parts of the brain.
Some of the biophilic landscape design patterns that landscape architects can integrate into their landscape designs include the concepts of prospect-refuge, complexity and order (balance), connection with natural systems, and waterscapes. Prospect-refuge is the concept of the natural landscape view over a distance, creating a sense of openness and shade, along with a feeling of control and safety; a person can have a pleasing view without being seen. The concept of complexity and order embrace the symmetries and infinitely complex patterns found in nature. The sequence through a landscape space provides natural feeling and encourages mental restoration by creating ecosystems. Creating vegetation and garden in landscape spaces along with the clean fresh air from the copied ecosystem amplify the feeling of connection with nature. The water feature in biophilic landscape can be used in buildings to provide connection with movement, sound, sight, touch, along with a calming effect. The waterscape can be achieved through bodies of water, fountains, and simulated rainstorms to help vegetation to grow.
In addition, fire is yet another natural element that would not connect immediately with biophilic landscape design but is easily integrated through a firepit or fireplace. The color, warmth, and movement intimating the natural movements of fire provide a sense of natural feelings along with a calming effect.
Finally, introducing light can be the most important feature of biophilic landscape design. Without light vegetation cannot survive. Human bodies are controlled by twenty-four-hour natural cycles which are regulated by natural light. The circadian rhythms do not only tell the body when to wake up and when to go to sleep, but also regulate the release of hormones that help the body stay energetic and attentive during the daytime and have a good sleep during night. Artificial lighting disrupts the circadian rhythm, leading to issues with attention during the day and agitation during night. It is essential to biophilic landscape architecture and design to allow the natural light and weather to be viewed through windows, glass doors, glass walls and railings. Viewing the natural landscapes through the use of see-through glass contributes to enhance the natural biorhythms.
Natural Environments Corporation (NEC) is a design-build landscaping company in Minneapolis, Minnesota providing premium landscaping services in the Metro Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. NEC landscape architects and landscape designers in Minneapolis MN can incorporate the biophilic landscape design with your landscaping ideas, and NEC landscapers and contractors can install the biophilic landscaping for your commercial or residential building.
