working from home

Unworking - A Biophilic Reinvention of the Modern Office?

Unworking - A Biophilic Reinvention of the Modern Office?

Biophilic design is not just an aesthetic choice, but a critical evolution in workplace design. As work becomes increasingly digital and flexible, the traditional office is transforming into a dynamic, nature-integrated environment. We speak with Jeremy Myerson, design writer, co-founder of WORKTECH Academy and Professor Emeritus in the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design at the Royal College of Art, who argues that the future workplace must move beyond sterile, industrial spaces to create settings that support human well-being, align with natural rhythms, and enhance productivity. This means incorporating elements like natural light, green spaces, vertical gardens, and designs that connect workers with the natural world. The post-pandemic workplace is no longer about containing workers, but about creating flexible, health-affirming spaces that recognize humans as part of a living ecosystem. Biophilic design, in Jeremy's vision, is the key to reimagining work as a holistic experience that nurtures both human potential and ecological connection.

READ ON and Watch the interview

Living in Balance and Symbiosis with Nature through Biophilic Design

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....

Plants to the Rescue! #PlantsatWorkWeek2023 LIVE in Oxford!

Plants to the Rescue! #PlantsatWorkWeek2023 LIVE in Oxford!

Live footage! We are really excited to join Plants@Work in Oxford to interview Ian Drummond the concept designer behind this year’s Plants @Work celebration! “Plants to the Rescue”.

An ambulance makes an appearance at the Oxford Business Park. Everyone is keen to know who’s in need of medical help without appearing too nosey. Watching from afar one person noted something wasn’t quite right – plants kept appearing, peeping out of the back of the ambulance and round the corners of the doors. Where was the patient? And what had happened?

Read on and watch!