The Office Space Through Biophilic Design Research 2022

ENHANCING THE OFFICE SPACE THROUGH BIOPHILIC DESIGN
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ABSTRACT
The initiatives of biophilic design responses to the office crises have been very effective hence
need to consider. The technology has been developed to assist in the implementation, design and
monitor the environmental benefits in relation to the office structure before translation into the
quantifiable benefits economically. Human life is generally surrounded by the natural
environment. It is however regrettable that continuous development of Offices particularly in
Urban Areas which are poorly designed has managed to isolate man from nature. Experiencing
positive qualities of nature as well as other unique spaces including offices can actually be an
amazing experience. Human beings tend to enjoy the relaxing and aesthetic characteristics which
are created by any design work. Research work has demonstrated on several occasions that
people tend to gravitate towards those types of the environment with a combination of the
following features. In this particular study, a lot of emphasis has been laid on the manner in
which the office space be enhanced through biophilic design while considering few case studies
on the subject.
Contents
ABSTRACT.................................................................................................................. 2
INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................... 4
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Biophilic Design Enhancement of the Workplace....................................................4
Biophilic design Dimensions........................................................................................... 8
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES................................................................................................ 9
Overall question of the research........................................................................................ 9
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................... 9
RESEARCH METHODS................................................................................................. 13
CASE STUDIES.......................................................................................................... 14
Case study 1.......................................................................................................... 14
WWF LIVING PLANET CENTRE – WOKING, UK.....................................................14
Impacts.............................................................................................................. 14
Statement from the occupants...........................................................................15
Biophilic Features of the Design.........................................................................15
Second Case study................................................................................................ 17
THE BYGGVESTA –STOCHHOLM.............................................................................17
The features of the biophilic design......................................................................19
DISCUSSIONS............................................................................................................. 22
BALANCING OF BOTH ARTIFICIAL AND NATURAL ENVIRONMENTS.......................24
General Benefits of the Biophilic Office Design..................................................................25
Secondary Application of biophilic design in office facility rehabilitation..................................32
Future goals of Biophilic Design of the offices................................................................33
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................. 34
BIBLIOGRAPHY.......................................................................................................... 36
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INTRODUCTION
As the evolution of the workplace continues, principles of the biophilic design have started
gaining importance. This is because the advantages such as reduced stresses among the staff and
subsequent reduced cases of absenteeism among the workers have become so difficult to
completely ignore. The role of natural environment in the development and growth of human has
been very important factor since time immemorial. However, this critical factor has been
unappreciated and underutilized in the present urban society of the modern world. Biophilic
design which is also refered to as biophilia is the inherent inclination of human to effectively
affiliate with the natural processes and systems (Gray and Birrell 2014). This kind of affinity
became encoded biologically in the enhancement of human emotional, physical and intellectual
fitness in the course of the evolution process as influenced by the context of natural surrounding
which human body and mind developed in.
Biophilic Design Enhancement of the Workplace
For sure it is not wrong to present that a lot of time is spent by individuals indoors currently. A
lot of studies that have been conducted present that approximately 90% of the time is mostly
spent by individuals inside with around 1000 office workers as the recent survey present indicate
around 30% of the total spending less than 15 minutes in accessing outdoor especially on
working days. The only percentage that can access the outdoor environment is only around 13%
per day and only 26% of the population manages to access the outdoor environment for an hour
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every day. This compared to the number of the prison inmate, it is quite lower since they access
the external environment for a period of one hour. In America, a lot of hours, more than 40 hours
is spent by the office workers in the office in every week, this compiles on the total amount of
time taken by individuals indoors rather than visiting the natural environmental nature.
Various employers such as Amazon has significantly implemented the concept of indoor nature
by including dramatic features such as a greenhouse of glass doomed to the headquarters of their
company. This showed that the company could averagely enjoy from the advantages of biophilic
design in a simple way. The Applied Journal of Experimental Psychology research
2014presented that plants when used within the building boost on the feelings of the individuals
within the room by around 40%. According to various studies that have been conducted, it has
been realized that use of biophilic elements at places of work is capable of enhancing the
production and also discourage absenteeism of the workers. These are the pair of factors that
greatly influence the performance of the company based on the costs of operation signified by
human resources.
Biophilic Office Design can be defined as the increasing or growing trend of bringing together
the outdoors indoors or specifically into the place of work. It is a misconception to believe that
biophilic design translates into addition of lots of plant shrubbery and plant life in the set of the
building. It is actually more complicated than that. One of the sustainable solutions identified by
the interior designers and architects to the unfortunate design of the built environment in the
current set up is Biophilic Design. In some suggestions, it is believed that it is simply a label
which focuses on tying together some of the progressive trends of the office design and in fact
putting some of the things in the right standards-creation of a workplace that every staff will
enjoy working.
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Each and every individual has a fundamental requirement to access the green spaces and the
nature as well. The term biophilia as portrayed by a scholar highlights innate linkage to natural
processes and nature. The concept of biophilia design has however been adopted to help
minimize the influence of the distinction through indoors implementation of natural elements to
presume the outdoor space. In the past few years, there has been a steady trend in the growth of
this concept as observed in the portrayed by the various signs showing the verge of meeting the
objective of installing biophilic design elements in modern offices but not only the applied idea
of office designers
It has served to potentially solved problems where natural system degradation has led to the
increased separation between the natural environment and human. This process of design has
been termed as "Restorative Environmental Design". This is because of its unique approach of
the design which focuses on both the strategy of low environmental impact which mitigates and
minimizes the adverse effects on the natural environment. It is also known to embrace a biophilic
design or positive environmental impact approach which promotes beneficial contact between
nature and people in modern landscapes and buildings.
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Figure 1: Casual meting area with the visual access to the outdoor (Smith 2013)
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Biophilic design Dimensions
There is a specific breakdown of the biophilic design. This breakdown has been done into two
categories which can potentially generate different solutions of the design. Every category
effectively demonstrates its relationship or connection with the natural environment.
The place based designed which is also known as vernacular design refers to the landscapes or
buildings which are cable of creating an attachment to the place through connection of ecology,
history, culture among others within the context of geographical location. Organic design on the
other hand uses shapes and forms in both landscapes and buildings which indirectly, directly or
symbolically represent those within the natural environment. It is also refered to as naturalistic
design. This particular project or dissertation focuses on the use of techniques of organic design
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