THE 14 PATTERNS OF BIOPHILIC DESIGN

With growing numbers of building owners and designers looking to incorporate biophilia into their building designs, the environmental design consultancy Terrapin Bright Green—run by the respected William Browning, Hon. AIA—has created a most useful document: 14 Patterns of Biophilic Design Improving Health & Well-Being in the Built Environment.¹⁰ The paper establishes more than a dozen approaches to biophilic design with the science behind each pattern, metrics, strategies, and considerations for how to apply each pattern. The objective purpose is to help the industry move from biophilic research to design application with the goal of enhancing health and well-being.

The comprehensive white paper, co-authored by Terrapin Bright Green’s Catherine Ryan and Joseph Clancy from the Pegasus Planning Group, is the culmination of extensive interdisciplinary research and is supported by empirical evidence from more than 500 publications on biophilic responses.

The 14 Patterns of Biophilic Design are:

1. Visual Connection with Nature: A view to elements of nature, living systems, and natural processes.
2. Non-Visual Connection with Nature: Auditory (sound), haptic (touch), olfactory (smell), or gustatory (taste) stimuli that engender a deliberate and positive reference to nature, living systems, or natural processes.
3. Non-Rhythmic Sensory Stimuli: Stochastic (random) and ephemeral connections with nature that may be analyzed statistically but may not be predicted precisely.
4. Thermal & Airflow Variability: Subtle changes in air temperature, relative humidity, airflow across the skin, and surface temperatures that mimic natural environments.
5. Presence of Water: A condition that enhances the experience of a place through seeing, hearing, or touching water.
6. Dynamic & Diffuse Light: Leverages varying intensities of light and shadow that change over time to create conditions that occur in nature.
7. Connection with Natural Systems: Awareness of natural processes, especially seasonal and temporal changes characteristic of a healthy ecosystem.
8. Biomorphic Forms & Patterns: Symbolic references to contoured, patterned, textured, or numerical arrangements that persist in nature.
9. Material Connection with Nature: Materials and elements from nature that, through minimal processing, reflect the local ecology or geology and create a distinct sense of place.
10. Complexity & Order: Rich sensory information that adheres to a spatial hierarchy similar to those encountered in nature.
11. Prospect: An unimpeded view over a distance for surveillance and planning.
12. Refuge: A place for withdrawal from environmental conditions or the main flow of activity in which the individual is protected from behind and overhead.
13. Mystery: The promise of more information, achieved through partially obscured views or other sensory devices that entice the individual to travel deeper into the environment.
14. Risk/Peril: An identifiable threat coupled with a reliable safeguard.

Honing in on Biomorphic Forms & Patterns, Material Connection with Nature, and Complexity & Order, Browning’s team classifies them as Natural Analogues, which are described as designs that address organic, non-living, and indirect evocations of nature. It is important to note that natural materials that have been processed or extensively altered only provide an indirect connection with nature. While they are still considered real, they are only analogous to the items in their “natural” state. “Real materials are preferred over synthetic variations because human receptors can tell the difference between real and synthetic, so minimally processed materials from real nature are preferred whenever possible,” states Browning and his team.

Biomorphic Forms & Patterns is based on what is called the Fibonacci sequence, which is a numeric series that occurs in many living things, particularly plants. Phyllotaxy is the spacing of plant leaves, branches, and flower petals so that new growth does not block the sun or rain from older growth, and it often follows in the Fibonacci sequence.

In applying these forms and patterns, which includes wood surfaces, the design guide suggests the following:

• Apply on two or three planes or dimensions (e.g., floor plane and wall; furniture, windows, and soffits) for greater diversity and frequency of exposure.
• Avoid the overuse of forms and patterns that may lead to visual toxicity.
• More comprehensive interventions will be more cost-effective when they are introduced early in the design process.

The Material Connection with Nature pattern is described as rich, warm, and authentic, and sometimes stimulating to the touch. In working with the pattern, the objective is to arrive at the characteristics and quantities of natural materials optimal for engendering positive cognitive or physiological responses. This might involve sifting through layers of information in materials that enhance the connection, such as learned knowledge about the material, familiar textures, or nested fractals that occur within a stone or wood grain pattern.

Drawing from these Patterns of Biophilic Design, Mallory Taub, LEED AP BD+C, WELL AP, senior sustainability specialist at Gensler, New York, says related considerations for wood ceilings and walls could include “the design of a textured finish that creates haptic stimuli that evokes a non-visual connection with nature, the development of a patina that evokes a connection with natural systems, or the creation of contoured surfaces that are biomorphic forms and patterns.”