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Reimagining Workplaces: The Green Revolution in Design - Interviews from the Workspace Design Show 2025

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Reimagining Workplaces: The Green Revolution in Design - Interviews from the Workspace Design Show 2025

Catching up with some designers leading the way for workplace transformation at the Workspace Design Show in February this year, we learnt that there are more and more designers championing biophilic design as more than just a trend—it's a critical response to human well-being and environmental sustainability.

Gurvinder Khurana from M Moser Associates cuts to the heart of the matter: "We are over 70% water, and [nature] resonates with us." This sentiment echoes throughout the conversation, revealing biophilic design as a profound connection between human experience and natural environments.

The designers unanimously agree that workspaces are no longer just functional spaces, but essential ecosystems that directly impact mental health and productivity. Nikos Papapetrou from Sheppard Robson provocatively argues that sustainability isn't just about materials, but "how you make people feel."

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Designing for the Senses: How Biophilic Workspaces Can Unlock Human Potential

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Designing for the Senses: How Biophilic Workspaces Can Unlock Human Potential

In an age where the modern workplace is rapidly evolving, a growing chorus of designers and workplace strategists are championing a radical new approach - one that reconnects us with the natural world. At the heart of this movement is the principle of biophilic design, which seeks to infuse our built environments with the rejuvenating power of nature.

"We are sensory beings," explains Collin Burry, design director at global architecture firm Gensler. "Designing for the full range of human senses - sight, sound, touch - is crucial if we want to create spaces that truly nourish and inspire people." Collin, who has transformed the interiors of iconic brands like Apple and Dolby, believes the workplace of the future must move beyond bare functionality to address our deep-seated need for connection with the natural world.

Allison English, co-founder of workplace experience consultancy Atos Strategy, agrees. "Sometimes we forget that we, as humans, are not designed to be sitting at desks staring at screens all day," she reflects. "We evolved to be in nature, to thrive in environments that stimulate all our senses." Allison's work has shown how biophilic design - from verdant living walls to soothing natural soundscapes - can have a profound impact on employee wellbeing and productivity. The benefits are backed by a growing body of research. Studies have found that exposure to natural elements can lower stress levels, boost cognitive function and even reduce absenteeism.

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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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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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Designing the Way Nature Would

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Designing the Way Nature Would

Merging nature and design together, Outsidein, as their name suggests, does exactly that, they bring the outside in. They were Platinum winners in this year’s 2022 Biophilic Design Awards with a project they designed for a large litigation firm in New Zealand, where the CEO had given them the specification to bring the experience of the wilds of New Zealand into the office to help give their workforce respite and relief during what is often a pressurised workday. Not only does this give relief, but also it is an amazing space to be in, people want to be there, they are drawn to the area. With the recruitment of the best and most talented staff a challenge in many countries, we might be wise to take a leaf (excuse the intended pun) out of this book.

We sit down with Ryan McQuerry, Creative Director of Outsidein, who dialled in at 5am from New Zealand to speak with us to find out about his journey into greenscaping and discuss how Biophilic Design when incorporated into the built environment and cities transforms lives. From his first forays into his grandpa’s garden in America to starting his first landscaping business at the age of 17, to being inspired by Patrick Blanc and seeing someone hanging off a building installing plants. He and his family live and breathe the biophilic life, their home is in the countryside, where every window has a view of nature, and materials are organic and natural, it’s no wonder that his work, installations and vision for design is sensitive to the beauty and benefits our natural world brings to us. He shares with us how they designed the winning greenscape using a change of temperature, natural light, indigenous plants, local rocks, terrarium concepts and so much more. It is beautiful…

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Plants @ Work…and Home… and in every room

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Plants @ Work…and Home… and in every room

As National Plants at Work week comes to a close, we celebrate all things plants in this great interview with ambassador and passionate interior and exterior planting designer, Ian Drummond. Plants at Work week takes place once a year, and aims to promote the many benefits of having plants in the workplace and in the past the designers for Plants at Work week have decorated all kinds of things from a Thames Clipper to a London black cab.

In this really passionate interview, be inspired and learn which plants are good where, why we need plants at every stage of our lives. Ian has worked with so many really interesting people, including Elton John, Chelsea Flower Show, BAFTA, London Fashion Week, I left the interview feeling ‘what a cool job he’s got’. Seriously, if you are thinking of working with plants, have a listen to this podcast or share with someone who is considering a career in plants, you’ll definitely leave the podcast impassioned too.

Ian started his passion for plants at a young age. He grew up in a council estate surrounded by concrete. One of his family gave him a house plant and it grew from there. One of the most powerful things he said, was how wonderful it would be if there was an opportunity for everyone to have living nature around them, if all communal spaces had a green oasis for everyone to spend time in. You don’t need a big investment, we need to open up our minds as to what’s important, developers and architects need to consider “green”. Not everyone can get outside, so bring the outside in, let’s fill schools, classrooms with plants. It should be an automatic thing, we should grow up surrounded by plants.

He shares with us how we can create “shelfies”, why Vanda Orchids are terrific, why we need Monsteras and how Zamioculcas are hard to kill! So some tips there for newbies to planting! His new book “At Home with Plants” shares ideas for what to plant in every room in the house. As he says, and I agree (!), every room should have plants!

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