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Charlotte Church - The Dreaming

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Charlotte Church - The Dreaming

Reconnecting with Nature: Charlotte' Church’s Biophilic Retreat offers Healing and Wonder. The Elan Valley, nestled in the heart of mid-Wales, is a hidden gem of serene beauty and wild grandeur. Here, the landscape unfurls in soft, rolling hills, dotted with ancient woodlands and heather-clad slopes, while the deep, verdant valleys are carved by the meandering course of crystal-clear rivers. The air is fresh, tinged with the earthy scent of moss and pine, and the sky, often painted in hues of blue or grey, seems endless above this tranquil expanse.

Here is where The Dreaming is.

The Dreaming, which is a haven and a place of retreat for everyone, is the creation of Charlotte Church. Charlotte. Is known to many as a singer, but maybe fewer know her as a visionary of this beautiful space in Wales. It’s a place where she is manifesting her vision to help people reconnect with nature, both inside and out, where biophilia threads through the hills, waterfalls, valleys and right into the house where you stay.

And it is this house which is the epitome of Biophilic Design. It is designed not only with heart and honesty, but has been a work of love by Charlotte and the designers who helped create this home. The former home of the designer, Laura Ashley has fallen into disrepair when Charlotte came across the land.

Turning her desire to make a difference in the world for people and planet, the land informed her decision to create a retreat centre, transforming the land and the house into a Biophilic haven.

In a secluded corner of the Welsh countryside, internationally renowned singer-songwriter Charlotte has created a sanctuary that blends the power of nature, music, and design. The Dreaming, her newly opened retreat centre, is a testament to her lifelong passion for the restorative qualities of the natural world.

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Biophilic Design and Retail spaces

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Biophilic Design and Retail spaces

In this podcast, Lyn Falk describes herself as a long-term preacher and educator in the sphere of biophilic design.  To her, "Everything is energy, even this brick building I'm in is made from molecules and atoms and energy.” Different materials like glass, wood, and brick vibrate differently, affecting our senses and well-being.  Her designs always include the immediate benefits of incorporating natural elements like plants, natural light, and fresh air into design and as many other elements the brief allows and she emphasises the importance of natural materials like wood, which have not undergone extensive processing and retain their original energy.   

Lyn's design philosophy is rooted in the understanding that we are fundamentally part of nature, not separate from it. "We cannot exist without abiding by the laws of nature," she says. "We've perhaps been forced into built environments that pull that out of the environment, but we're now seeing the results of that." Those results, according to Lyn, are all too apparent in the retail and hospitality sectors, where a focus on maximizing profits has often come at the expense of human needs.

Lyn believes that by reintegrating nature into our built spaces through elements like natural light, plants, and natural materials, we can not only improve the customer experience, but also the wellbeing of employees. "I always say if I had to work in a cubicle, just shoot me," she laughs. “We are living nature, and we've been put in buildings that are static and not necessarily living, breathing buildings.”

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The Spine - Liverpool: How Biophilic Design was used to create the highest WELL Certified Building in the World…

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The Spine - Liverpool: How Biophilic Design was used to create the highest WELL Certified Building in the World…

How does a passion for biophilic design, which stems from a desire to improve an architect and designer’s own health, lead to the design of a major new healthcare building? For Steven Edge, founder of Salvage Sustainable Design, his personal interest in Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) expanded into advocacy of Biophilic Design in buildings. We catch up with and discuss his recent project, commissioned by Manchester based architects AHR in 2017, where he acted as biophilic design consultant for their client the Royal College of Physicians’ new £35, million HQ in Liverpool.  The Spine opened in the Spring of 2021 and with 109 out of a possible 110 WELL Credits, the highest of any (over 26,000) WELL certified buildings in the world, its set to become one of the healthiest buildings in the world.

Steven is a biophilic design consultant, and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, with over 40 years’ experience in academia and the design and construction industry. He shares his background, starting with work in architecture and interior design, and his growing interest in sustainability and healthy materials.

Talking about biophilic design principles used in The Spine, Steve describes how The Royal College of Physicians wanted to create a building that would make people feel healthier when they left it than when they entered; a brief that was fully met. Because it's a college as well as Office Spaces, they have young surgeons who would also be diagnosing real patients’ problems in this new building.

The design, led by architect Rob Hopkins, drew inspiration from the human body, with elements like the "skin" of the building and the "spine" staircase.

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST... and read on...

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Living in Balance and Symbiosis with Nature through Biophilic Design

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Living in Balance and Symbiosis with Nature through Biophilic Design

How can Biophilic Design be used to create happier and healthier environments? Ben Channon is an architect, author, TEDx speaker and mental wellbeing advocate, and is well known as a thought leader in designing for happiness and wellbeing. As a Director at the wellbeing design consultancy Ekkist, he helps clients and design teams to create healthier places, and researches how buildings and urban design can impact how we feel. He also offers talks on workplace mental health, productivity and company culture, sharing his philosophy that happier staff are better staff.

Ben developed an interest in design for mental health, wellbeing and happiness after suffering with anxiety problems in his mid-twenties. His search for solutions to his personal issues led to him unearthing lots of amazing research including in the realm of environmental psychology, which proved that the environment we spend time in has a huge impact on how we feel, think, behave and interact with other people. All this led him to research the relationship between buildings and happiness, which formed the basis of his first book: ‘Happy by Design’. Ben’s second book ‘The Happy Design Toolkit’ - which offers more practical advice on how to create buildings for our mental wellbeing (published in March 2022) which gives people the tools to implement the principles of Happy Design.

Ben makes it clear that progress towards Happy Design doesn’t have to be in big steps.  He advocates using ‘nudge’ psychology; making small but significant changes that encourage healthier, happier behaviours, to add “little bits of joy” wherever we can, creating uplifting places and spaces that add elements of joy.

Biophilic Design is increasingly more widely embraced, but long-term thinking and better education are required for the benefits of a biophilic approach to be fully realised. Listening to this podcast is a fantastic way to start that journey as Ben’s advocacy of the benefits of biophilic design is clear and compelling....

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NEW proof that Biophilic Design increases the Value (£) of the Workplace!

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NEW proof that Biophilic Design increases the Value (£) of the Workplace!

Did you know for every £1 you spend on even simple Biophilic Design enhancements, you could get £2.70 back? So reveals the new research conducted by Joyce Chan Shoof Architect and Sustainability Lead at the UK Parliament.

Using a scientific approach with control environments, adding biophilic design elements to test the effect and then removing them to further test the effect of their absence, Joyce explains the rigorous approach she took over a seven-year period to arrive at her conclusion.

This is a phenomenal breakthrough for those of us working in Biophilic Design.

You can read the whole report here: https://plplabs.com/reap-what-you-sow-2/

And come and see Joyce present the research in person at Workplace Trends in London on the 18th April 2024 https://workplacetrends.co/events/wtrs24-prog/

We often have struggled trying to articulate the economic benefits of Biophilic Design, this research can be used to support arguments why businesses need it in the workplace.

Joyce has also developed a framework to help designers work out what we need and the impact it will have. Using existing frameworks, like the Flourish model (as advocated by Professor Derek Clements Croome) and others, she has woven a great new model we can all hang our designs on…. READ ON and LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

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Sensory Reactivity

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Sensory Reactivity

When we design spaces, we need to consider how beautiful a place looks, how useful it is, is it fit for function and so on. We should also consider how the sensory elements of the space also stack up. In other podcasts and also in the Journal itself, we look at how our senses are impacted by sound, light, smell, even the haptic elements (those things we touch), smell (is the air fresh and clear) and many other things. All of us are affected by the impact our environment has on our senses, some of us more than others.

In this episode, we speak with Dr Keren MacLennan, Assistant Professor in Neurodiversity in the Department of Psychology, Durham University. Her research focuses on understanding how autistic people’s sensory processing differences relate to their mental health and experiences of different environments. She is co-producing research to support mental wellbeing to make environments more enabling for autistic individuals

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Town Planners as Doctors for Mother Earth – Garden Cities for the 21st Century

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Town Planners as Doctors for Mother Earth – Garden Cities for the 21st Century

It seems that in the 21st century we have even more challenges, from tackling climate change and biodiversity decline to an ageing population. Dr Wei Yang, influential thought-leader and a powerful advocate for climate action and nature-based solutions, advocates a people centric approach to community and environment. It is fundamental to create a balanced system for people, nature and society to exist in harmony. When we are dealing with so many different complex issues, we need to take a simple approach, with the main focus being that without nature we cannot survive. We need a mindset change when it comes to civic planning especially.

 

As human beings we have taken from nature and not given back to nature, and Dr Yang argues, as the Garden City Principle celebrates, we are missing a trick. There is a misunderstanding of garden cities. When we say “garden cities” people think, lots of trees. But it is a sophisticated, yet simple, social economic model. Using a land value capture model. Through development the land value increases and that can be captured providing social economic support to the community.

 

Dr Yang discusses how state run Social welfare can be a very top down approach and not necessarily what the community needs and there is a frustration in general with the Town Planning profession. Dr Yang opens our eyes to the fact that planning is in fact multi-disciplinary, not only is it an applied science discipline but it is also an art discipline. This highly sophisticated profession cuts across so many different disciplines, but, she argues, we need to ensure we maintain compassion and selflessness when we are planning our towns and cities. In fact, town Planners should be Doctors for Mother Earth

Read on and listen…

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The River of Life – Orientate Earth, Built Environment and Sustainable Workplace

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The River of Life – Orientate Earth, Built Environment and Sustainable Workplace

Harvesting the energy of our people, is a key message in this great podcast with Jaime Blakeley-Glover, founder of Orientate.earth and a collaborator with other businesses all working towards the same goal, to make our world and our environment a better place to live and thrive.

 We talk about his the “Social benefit of buildings”. For Jaime, we have a huge responsibility in relation to how we create our built environment, the decisions we take will have an effect for years after we’ve gone. We leave a legacy, and a choice. Do we create amazing awe-inspiring connected places or create dull and lifeless ones?

It is only by understanding and engaging with all the stakeholders, from the building owners to the people who work, visit, use and supply the buildings that will allow us to think about the place our buildings and places have in responding to the needs of people now and in the future. We need to broaden out how we think of things.

Buildings are more than just Units and assets, these are places where people live, how we build and design affects their lives and wellbeing. Let’s look at the Social-economic indicators as well as the “warm” data, this collective imagination to assess this broad set of information, and then respond to it.

Biophilic design and nature-inspired design does support a more sustainable way of living. It is proven, that if we care about something we do more to protect it, if we bring nature more into our sense of view, we will do more to protect it. We can also be inspired by nature and look at how buildings and cities are living systems.

We are part of the living system, in terms of cities, and nature.

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How to design to incite a feeling? Workplace Design 101

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How to design to incite a feeling? Workplace Design 101

How do you design to incite a feeling? We spend five days of our week in the workplace, and it impacts our psychology massively. When we walk into a space, how do we design to excite that sense of awe. For Becky Turner, workplace psychologist for Claremont Group Interiors, they have conducted research to examine how we replicate that feeling of “oooh” in the workplace.

For many it is the sense of sense of connection that drives people to the office, what else will encourage the workforce the consider the cost of the commute whether it’s financial or time? Claremont researched office-based workers to find out what types of things invite people back to the office. With an overall low occupancy at 30% businesses are feeling the pinch when it comes to workforce presence.

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The Fluid Beauty of Light - Lighting the Workplace

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The Fluid Beauty of Light - Lighting the Workplace

We are diurnal species, we were born under natural light, we have an ingrained ability to imagine and contextualise natural light in our heads. A Biophilic approach to lighting pulls on those cues inwards into the built environment. We spend hours and hours inside, and in the workplace we need spaces that will empower us to do our best work, to flourish, to keep us healthy and as a simple baseline, to also enjoy coming to work. Gary Thornton is speaking at the Workplace Trends “Evolving Ways of Working” conference on 18 October 2022 in London and we catch up with him beforehand to discuss just how should we be applying Biophilic lighting to our Workplaces.

A lot of things in the workplace are static, but what can shift during the day is lighting. It can influence our behaviour, the look and feel of a space, more so than any other discipline. That is one reason why lighting is so important, but is also one of the unsung heroes of a space. Historically, we have lit spaces for paper-based work, instead of considering a great deal of our work is screen-based, so there is a lot of overlighting. In this podcast, Gary outlines a lighting schema that considers first how people use the space, how to enhance not only the horizontal space (desks etc) but also the verticals (the walls which can look drab and dull if not lit properly). He suggests lighting spaces which create an experience, a destination to enhance the wellbeing and also positive perception and feeling of a space.

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Are you sitting comfortably? ...probably not...!

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Are you sitting comfortably? ...probably not...!

What do you think of when people say "ergonomics"? You, like many others, may think 'comfortable chairs and sit-stand desks', but as Guy Osmond, MD of Osmond Ergonomics explains in this podcast, it is more than that. Incorporating Biophilic Design into workplace solutions, ergonomics covers the physical and mental wellbeing of the individual. The word itself comes from the Ancient Greek "ergon" meaning "work" and "nomos" meaning natural law, so ergonomics is the practice of designing a work environment optimised for the individual so they can be the most attentive, most productive and most comfortable at work.

In this podcast Guy gives us, at 00:13:00, THREE TIPS you can do at home to improve your home working. He also shares information from a NASA study on how and why we should move to trigger your anti-gravity muscles.

Millions of people are still working from their kitchen, with a whole bunch of them suffering from neck, shoulder and back problems, as well as mental health issues. If you have ever heard of the term "Magnetic Office", you will probably know that it is a term referring to the pull of the office. If you want your staff to return to your offices, well, just take a look at their design. Can they can work comfortably? Are you considering the well-being management of your workforce? Up your game and think of the bigger picture, and remember the key takeaway from this podcast: the mental and physical health of your staff are interconnected.

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Sustainable Habitats for Sustainable Habits?

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Sustainable Habitats for Sustainable Habits?

When you climb up a tree, don’t we see life from a different perspective? We realise we part of something bigger than ourselves, we see an overview of everything and it helps us understand our place in the world more. It is also true, that generally many people and businesses seem to have a distorted relationship with nature, but as Environmental Psychologist and Design professional Anicee Bauer of “Humans in Trees” puts it: “we are nature”. Can Biophilic Design really encourage a more sustainable lifestyle, and why should the Workplace include Biophilic Design in order to help reach that NetZero target?

In this podcast, she shares with us the three fascinating levels in her consultancy process. We touch on Wabi-Sabi design strategies, Aristotelian intellectual moral virtues, spirituality, reconnecting with the fun we feel in nature and Einstein… come join us…

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Rooted in Nature - how Biophilic Design helps us flourish

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Rooted in Nature - how Biophilic Design helps us flourish

Can we make the world a better place by design? Nicole Craanen definitely thinks so (and so do we). Nicole is founder of Rooted in Nature and believes that connection to nature, especially through Biophilic Design supports human wellbeing. Quoting E.O.Wilson “the crucial first step to survival in all our organisms is habitat selection. If you get the right place, everything else is likely to be easier”, she explores in this podcast, just how we are rediscovering how we can design close to nature to help create better spaces for us to live and work in, and this is especially true in healthcare.

We have many studies proving just how beneficial Biophilic Design is, which underlines that deep innate connection that we have to the space around us. All this research is helping us determine habitats that support us in the built environment. It is also helping advocate the environmental stewardship aspect of Biophilic Design as a sustainable design practice.

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What can we learn from Ancient Roman balneology?

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What can we learn from Ancient Roman balneology?

In Biophilic Design we speak about the importance of how the environment we are in affects our senses. This sensorial approach is a key feature of a human-centric mode of design. Why we would consider designing spaces which harm our minds, physical health and negatively affect our ability to focus or be creative is beyond me. Thankfully, this disconnect between understanding how to create spaces harmonious to our senses is losing ground, with the advent of the Biophilic Design movement.

This was one of the main reasons I was excited to interview Dr Giacomo Savani, who specialises in ancient Roman balneology. What is that you might ask? Balneology, as he explains in this podcast, is the study of baths and bathing, how water, springs and spas also can heal. Readers of our Journal and listeners to the podcast, will probably have some understanding of the concept of the “Blue Mind”, how water has such a positive affect on us. Dr Savani has taken this a few steps further and looked at the physical and sensorial aspects of ancient Roman bathing, and we discuss in this podcast, how we might learn from their experiences and design practices and bring aspects into our designs today.

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The Asklepeion - Healing and “Biophilic Design” in the Ancient World

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The Asklepeion - Healing and “Biophilic Design” in the Ancient World

Did you know that the principles of “Biophilic Design” have been around for a long time? We might not have called it that, but architects were using the concepts in their built environment. We speak with expert Dr Patty Baker on the ancient world places of healing, particularly the design of the Asklepeion which were buildings and spaces sacred to the god of healing, Asklepios. In this podcast you'll learn who Asklepios was and how his sanctuaries and places of healing were designed to help aid rest, recuperation and healing.

We speak about how the ancient Greeks and Romans had healing centres everywhere, how they brought the “outside” in, how nature played a big part in providing the positive and beautiful setting for these health centres.

They felt that the whole body needed treating, inside and outside the body and also that our senses were key to all this. So it wan’t just what you heard, and could smell, the fresh air but also what you saw. These sanctuaries were surrounded by green and that “fresh” and healthy view was a key to healing.

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Creating Positive Spaces with Biophilic Design

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Creating Positive Spaces with Biophilic Design

How do we reduce distraction at work? How do we entice our staff back into the office? Why do they need to come in? How can zoning help? What are non-rhythmic sensory stimuli? How can biomorphic shapes help us do our best work? What is the business case for Biophilic Design? These and many other questions are answered in this podcast with Oliver Heath and Tanja Künstler. Oliver is founder of Oliver Heath design, and co-author of a new seminal guide from Interface “Creating Positive Spaces”. Tanja is concept designer for Interface. Between them they share some essential insights from the guide and how, by employing a Biophilic Design and human-centred approach to refreshing our office, we can create a workplace where we we will do our best work.

We have an opportunity right now to rethink how we design the workplace as we bring people back to the office. How we cater for different sensory thresholds of our workforce is a key element in designing better.

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Psychoacoustics - an introduction; the importance of Biophilic Design for our ears and brains

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Psychoacoustics - an introduction; the importance of Biophilic Design for our ears and brains

What is psychoacoustics and why should we care about it? Paige Hodsman, concept developer for Saint-Gobain Ecophon explains how the psychology of how we perceive sound is essential for our health and wellbeing. She explains how humans react to sound stimulus directly relates to our performance at work for instance. This helps us understand how people respond to their environment and how we can design better spaces. Did you know that biophilic improvements to a space has a positive impact on our brains through our hearing too? The vast experience of humans have been outside, in fact we are particularly suited to being in a natural environment, in fact neuronal activity is greater when we hear natural sounds.

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Nature and Health in an Urban Setting

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Nature and Health in an Urban Setting

There has been quite a bit written and discussed recently about the mental health benefits of getting out into nature especially in urban environments. COVID19 highlighted the relief that being outside in nature gave us. We speak with Dr. Melissa Marselle (see our previous conversation as well on Complex Patterns, Biodiversity and Nature Views”) on how nature especially in cities has helped us deal with stressors of the pandemic and the consequences of lockdown, how it has enabled us to meet other people safely, get out of our homes and also offer us the opportunity for physical activity. Melissa discusses over 40 years of research which consistently shows that a natural environment has beneficial and restorative effects on us.

She shares with us what types and qualities of nature are best for the health and wellbeing of people and the planets looking at greenspace, water, planting and spaces that promote biodiversity and more. We have just entered the UN Decade of Rewilding (launched June 2021), where we hope to see more nature being brought into cities and biodiversity encouraged. Improving our urban environment with nature is so important now more than ever.

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Architecture as a Catalyst for Life

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Architecture as a Catalyst for Life

David Kirkland is an architect, designer and co-founder of Kirkland Fraser Moor. He is also a photographer and co-founder of d-lab, a creative design lab which pushes boundaries and is inspiring a new generation of architects and designers. We discuss biomimicry, primitive design, architectural education, the Eden Project, Para Homes and much more. This is also a call for a “flourishing”, over and above just “sustainability”.

Our built environment creates about 40% of our carbon emissions, and architects are at the forefront of helping solve this. His belief is that architects have a huge opportunity here, with head in the clouds but feet firmly on the ground, to think laterally to minimise this. For him, it is all about Life, with a capital L.

This is also a call for more beauty, and awe in our world. A respect for our planet.

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A Dose of Nature

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A Dose of Nature

From studying the fragile ecosystems supporting the threatened lives of gibbons, Professor Helen Chatterjee is combining that understanding of evolution and conservation, with her practice of raising awareness of the importance of sustainable green environments which can be used as “nature prescriptions” for us, especially if we live in inner cities.

Access to quality spaces is vital to our mental and physical wellbeing. She shares with us her personal story, as well as an impassioned call for the need to try to encourage social prescribing of nature-based solutions from GPs and healthcare workers. Whether it’s a walk in the park, gardening, or other connections with nature, there is extensive evidence for the bio, psycho and social health benefits to us.

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