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Biophilic Eudaimonia

Biophilic Eudaimonia

The concept of eudaimonia, rooted in Aristotelian philosophy, is more than just happiness. Eudaimonia represents a state of good spirit and the realisation of one's full potential. It's about creating environments that support individuals in becoming their best selves across different life stages and circumstances. I sat down with Jenna Mikus to explore the concept and find out how we can weave this into Biophilic Design.

Jenna is founder of the Eudae Group and an Honorary Fellow at the University of Melbourne, and focuses on this concept, bridging engineering, philosophy, and design to create spaces that truly support human flourishing.

Eudaimonia manifests itself in Jenna's recent projects across healthcare and educational settings. In hospitals, she challenges traditional design creating spaces that support all users of the space, staff, patients and families. Imagine healing environments with dedicated family zones, access to natural views, and carefully curated sensory experiences that help process difficult emotions. All of this will resonate with Biophilic Designers.

Jenna’s own professional journey is anything but conventional. With a background in mechanical engineering, art history, and business, she represents the antithesis of traditional siloed thinking. Her career trajectory—from government consulting to architectural design—reflects a deep commitment to understanding how environments can profoundly impact human experience.

In educational spaces, Jenna advocates for neuro-inclusive design. We need classrooms with varied lighting zones, comfortable materials, and flexible spaces that accommodate different learning styles. The goal is to create environments that inspire learning by understanding how space can activate creativity and engagement. All these things are also woven into Biophilic Design.

In our conversation she shares that we can all bring these large-scale learnings into small-scale real-world situations. When her father… CONTINUE READING and WATCH the PODCAST

What do Biophilic Design, Feng Shui and Wabi Sabi have in common?

What do Biophilic Design, Feng Shui and Wabi Sabi have in common?

Acoustics, planting, colour ways, furniture design, textures, space all have an impact on us. Whether this is at home or in the workplace, how we decide to design these spaces can make a whole difference to our mind set, they can make us stressed and unproductive or they can make us focussed, calm and inspired. We have control on what we create. We have a duty of care to ourselves to make sure we respect each other enough to want to make our homes and offices, hospitals and so on nice places to be…