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here typing this on a Sunday morning wondering why the heck do we still design schools in a way where children are withdrawn from nature and then our secondary and new tertiary educational establishments continue in the same vein.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.

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