How do we design schools so not only children are inspired, teachers want to come to work, places are healthy, the building sustainable, the landscape regenerative, and supports biodiversity? The answer is Biophilic Design. De Verwondering is a primary school in the Netherlands, designed by architecture firm ORGA. The design won the 2023 Stephen R. Kellert Biophilic Design Award from Living Future Europe in 2023, and justifiably so and is featured in the Education issue of The Journal of Biophilic Design.
The name of school means ‘sense of wonder’ or 'amazement', referring to the sensation of curiosity in children that is triggered when they come into contact with the natural world. Any parallels with ‘The Sense of Wonder’, Rachel Carson’s timeless publication from 1960, are coincidental, but both very much speak to the same sentiment.
Photos of the School courtesy of Robin Visser
In this podcast we speak with Gijs Bruggink, Chef de bureau of ORGA and discuss the importance of using Natural building materials, and how we need to push boundaries for sustainable and regenerative buildings.
Gijs describes the school for our listeners, and you can see visuals of it here on the Journal website. There are three squares, with a triangular area between them, leaf shaped roof across it central area for the kids, there are big wooden steps up to the second floor, a specially designed naturally playground around he school, and there’s lots of greenery. Plus the façade has big wooden grids which allow climbing plants to grow up, so the whole school will be covered in green. There are columns in the central area, stripped tree trunks carrying the structure, sanded and oiled. Plus there is natural ventilation, separate access hatch, outlets, where a chimney effect draw fresh air 24hrs a day into the building smell of new cut grass, or smell of rain on the earth.
The difference the Biophilic Design of the school has made to the teachers, staff, and children is phenomenal, and it also shows when an organization wants to do something better with nature deeply embedded into it right from the start of the project. The difference it can make to the business, the reduction of staff and student absenteeism, the improved recruitment, overall wellbeing, air quality, acoustics and so much more.
Generally, clients are seeing the benefits of Biophilic Design, and more and more Gijs and his firm are working with them from the start, rather than fight the battle.
“It is an interesting time for designers. There are a lot of problems which need solutions nowadays with climate change and biophilic design just has a lot of answers. Not only is it beautiful but it's interesting from the health perspective and it's beneficial from a business perspective because if your users of the building are able to perform better to be more productive and they feel better, it's good for your business. There's a lot of research and science supporting these these ideas and these benefits,” says Gijs.
One of the wonderful things about the Der Verwondering design is that they have created a really healthy learning environment for children and the people working there to help them get a good education. There are also all sorts of connections to nature in the building which builds affinity with nature, and children can discover things on their own, they have a natural adventurous inquisitive nature.
We also discuss how wood lasts a really long time, and how you can use different types of wood and natural wood finishings that protect the materials of your buildings.
The Principal was at the previous school and now also at this one, and has said that the children are right at home right away in the new school with no long adjustment period. They kids can really focus on work after a break outside in nature and this focus is a big change than before. There is less absenteeism and attendance a lot better, so that along with improved recruitment it makes financial sense too.
When you think about your own school or university experience you might have traumatic memories or absolutely amazing ones (we can debate how are brains focus on one or the other another time!), but for a moment think back about how much “nature-connection” you had. For me, growing up in the 70s, I was in London, the primary school playground was concrete, asphalt and brick, and there was a little bank of trees shielding us from the petrol station on the other side of the wall where the boys would invariably kick their footballs over to. In my secondary school there was the “teachers’ garden” where you weren’t allowed to play in unless it was a special day and you were 17 plus and in the 6th form. That exclusivity of nature from the rest of the school was a bit bizarre thinking about it. But the expectation of a paved and grey playground was the norm. I was lucky because my mother was a bit of an eco-nut and my father an outdoorsy kind of guy, so my free time outside of school was spent in the woods with the dog, walking, on the beach. I remember fondly those long day trips in the back of the car, with books, sandwiches and then exploding out of the confines of the vehicle and onto the field where we parked our car, had a picnic and then spilled out onto the beach. Hours and hours we spent outside.
Now I’m involved in exploring why biophilic design is good for us, how we bring it in and the thousands of benefits it bestows on us, I’m sitting here typing this on a Sunday morning wondering why the heck do we still design schools in a way where children are withdrawn from nature and then our secondary and new tertiary educational establishments continue in the same vein.
However… and here’s the good news… there is a change. And the Department of Education here in the UK is now incorporating Biophilic Design into the fabric of schools. We are still a long way off from it permeating every place of education, but it’s an amazing start! Watch out for a podcast coming up!
In this issue, I am so thrilled to share with you some brilliant case studies which show how it can be done… brilliantly… Take a look at the De Verwondering, a Biophilic Primary School, where 85% of the above ground construction is built of natural materials, the ventilation system of hatches allow the smell of new mown grass to float in. Putney High School is another of an amazing green infrastructure campus, where there is access to play in nature, but inside the building itself there is also a dramatic reduction of CO2 with a 58% improvement in the air quality. Oliver Heath’s sensory school as well as Determan’s Bethel-Hanberry elementary school design celebrates biomorphic forms. All these Biophilic Design interventions also help reduce absenteeism. Make sure you take a look at and share the Good Plant Guide generously given by Clare Bowman of RCZM Architects.
Did you know you can subscribe and become a member of the Journal and get access to all back issues of the Journal too? https://journalofbiophilicdesign.com/subscribe-as-a-member
To read more about it and see more images, Gijs also wrote in our Education issue of The Journal of Biophilic Design Printed copy https://journalofbiophilicdesign.com/shop/pre-order-journal-of-biophilic-design-issue-7-education-paperback-printed-version
Ebook PDF. https://journalofbiophilicdesign.com/shop/olwe3aq4uukmg3k3o65o1n4k1fhvww
ORGA architect: https://www.orga-architect.nl/
Gijs Bruggink: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gijsbruggink
A quote from Gijs article in Education Issue 7 of The Journal of Biophilic Design:
Welcome to the 7th Edition of the Journal of Biophilic Design. When you think about your own school or university experience you might have traumatic memories or absolutely amazing ones (we can debate how are brains focus on one or the other another time!), but for a moment think back about how much “nature-connection” you had. For me, growing up in the 70s, I was in London, the primary school playground was concrete, asphalt and brick, and there was a little bank of trees shielding us from the petrol station on the other side of the wall where the boys would invariably kick their footballs over to. In my secondary school there was the “teachers’ garden” where you weren’t allowed to play in unless it was a special day and you were 17 plus and in the 6th form. That exclusivity of nature from the rest of the school was a bit bizarre thinking about it. But the expectation of a paved and grey playground was the norm. I was lucky because my mother was a bit of an eco-nut and my father an outdoorsy kind of guy, so my free time outside of school was spent in the woods with the dog, walking, on the beach. I remember fondly those long day trips in the back of the car, with books, sandwiches and then exploding out of the confines of the vehicle and onto the field where we parked our car, had a picnic and then spilled out onto the beach. Hours and hours we spent outside.
Now I’m involved in exploring why biophilic design is good for us, how we bring it in and the thousands of benefits it bestows on us, I’m sitting here typing this on a Sunday morning wondering why the heck do we still design schools in a way where children are withdrawn from nature and then our secondary and new tertiary educational establishments continue in the same vein.
However… and here’s the good news… there is a change. And the Department of Education here in the UK is now incorporating Biophilic Design into the fabric of schools. We are still a long way off from it permeating every place of education, but it’s an amazing start! Watch out for a podcast coming up!
In this issue, I am so thrilled to share with you some brilliant case studies which show how it can be done… brilliantly… Take a look at the De Verwondering, a Biophilic Primary School, where 85% of the above ground construction is built of natural materials, the ventilation system of hatches allow the smell of new mown grass to float in. Putney High School is another of an amazing green infrastructure campus, where there is access to play in nature, but inside the building itself there is also a dramatic reduction of CO2 with a 58% improvement in the air quality. Oliver Heath’s sensory school as well as Determan’s Bethel-Hanberry elementary school design celebrates biomorphic forms. All these Biophilic Design interventions also help reduce absenteeism. Make sure you take a look at and share the Good Plant Guide generously given by Clare Bowman of RCZM Architects.
Did you know you have access to this digital issue for FREE if you are already a member of the Journal of Biophilic Design https://journalofbiophilicdesign.com/subscribe-as-a-member
“The school as a biotope - The way the spaces in the building work together is analogous to the system of natural habitats: shared spaces in nature that allow species to both thrive and coexist. Pupils spend most of the time in an ‘ecotope’ with children of the same age, the classroom. Three clusters of classrooms, including a small gym and an outdoor classroom on the roof form ‘habitats’ where pupils meet children of adjacent ages. A couple of times each day they venture outside of the familiar surroundings of the habitat, into the larger ‘biotope’ of the school complex. For example, to the central gathering area for school meetings or to the playground outside, where they can learn more about nature and the world.”
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