Biophilic Design Rationale: Theory, Methods, and Applications

About this Research Topic

Background

Biophilic Design tries to translate humans’ attraction to and desire for connection with Nature, namely biophilia, into the design of environments. However, to justify the psychological benefits and effectiveness of biophilic design, designers often draw inspiration from restorative environment design, a way of planning the environment to support psycho-physiological well-being. Restorative Environment Design derives from environmental psychology theories - in particular Attention Restoration Theory (ART) and Stress Recovery Theory (SRT).

Restorative environment design has been tested on psychological, physiological, and cognitive levels whereas biophilic design draws from the architect's experience and intuition. What evidence do we have of the effectiveness of biophilic design? If biophilic design is based on the biophilia hypothesis, then it requires empirical testing and rigorous analysis of its effects over time for different groups and places (by age, gender, culture, etc.), as restorative environment design. What protocols, what measuring systems can we use to test the effectiveness of biophilic design?

This Research Topic welcomes original research articles and reviews that help clarify the theoretical background, tools, and limits of biophilic design. It will also have original empirical case studies (that is evaluation of the psycho-physical effects) of one or more projects to help clarify the application of biophilic design. In particular, it aims to show the similarities and differences between biophilic and restorative environment design and the contribution that such disciplines as evolutionary biology and environmental psychology can offer to biophilic design.

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Keywords: biophilic design, restorative environments, biophilia, investigation methods, attention restoration, stress recovery, connection with nature

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