Biophilic Design

In planning our new office space, I learned that biophilic design can help reduce stress and improve our cognitive function and creativity. Biophilic design is a concept used within the building industry to increase occupant connectivity to the natural environment through the use of direct nature, indirect nature, and space and place conditions. It can make an impact on connectivity and output even if it’s subtle — so not just plants and skylights, but also flooring patterns and colors that remind us of grass or water, for example.

In an awesome book, The Best Place To Work, Ron Friedman, Ph.D., explains the impact of color:

Red stimulates the part of the brain that makes us more sensitive to failure, causing us to be more alert and vigilant. (It reminds us of stop signs, alarm signals, and blood).

Blues and greens make us “feel safe and improve our creative output” because they remind us of a fertile environment, according to Friedman.

Most of our new office will feature flooring and walls with accents of blues and greens (with one patch of red where we finalize bids!).

I’m grateful that a few flooring manufacturers have come out with designs that evoke the ocean, trees, moss, grass, pebbles, and other natural elements. Most of the biophilic flooring designs we’ve seen are with carpet or LVT (luxury vinyl tile/planks).

Also, if you’re interested in seeing samples of biophilic flooring, please let us know. And we welcome you to see us and our biophilic design in our new space — we will move in early April to 32 Marway Circle, Gates, NY (not too far from where we are now).

P.S. Here are links to some references, in case you’d like to learn more:

The Best Place to Work, by Ron Friedman, PhD

On Biophilic design: “Americans Have a Nature Problem” (NBC News)

“Biophilia – The Call of the Wild” (from Interface), “Creating Biophilia Flooring” (Floor Covering Weekly)