Last week I was walking through a new subdivision with a client, looking at what the developer proudly called their “sustainable community.” Every house had solar panels, drought-tolerant plants (read:…
I spent a day with someone pursuing WELL certification for their corporate office redesign. They were documenting everything—light levels, air quality metrics, materials sourcing, acoustic performance, daylighting analysis. It seemed…
I became obsessed with understanding the mechanism behind why biophilic design actually works. Not as belief, but as physiology. The research is extensive and the pattern is consistent: humans show…
The most common mistake I see in biophilic design attempts is people trying to do everything simultaneously. They buy fifteen plants, paint walls green, install expensive water features, overhaul furniture—then…
I spent a week in Copenhagen studying how the city integrated biophilic principles at urban scale. Streets designed with cycling paths and water views. Parks accessible from every neighborhood. Buildings…
The moment I realized biophilic design had to be different for different spaces was when my sister asked me to help optimize her home office. She’d taken my advice about…
I first visited Bosco Verticale in Milan specifically to see biophilic design at architectural scale. Two residential towers covered in vertical forests—thousands of plants integrated into the building facade. From…
I spent forty minutes in a home goods store once staring at paint color samples trying to find the perfect “biophilic green.” I had about two dozen samples pinned to…
I quit architecture because a hospital replaced a healing garden with a TV. That decision crystallized something I’d been observing for years—the disconnect between what research showed about human-environment relationships…
I spent three months studying the Terrapin Bright Green 14 patterns framework before I truly understood why my apartment transformation worked so consistently. I’d implemented biophilic elements intuitively—plants because they…
The first time someone told me I was a biophile, I thought they were making a joke. I’d been talking about my obsession with bringing nature into spaces, my collection…
I quit my job as an architect because of a pediatric cancer ward. Specifically, because they replaced a healing garden with a TV. That moment — sitting in a Philadelphia…
I’ve been thinking a lot about what makes some restoration projects actually work while others just feel like expensive band-aids on old buildings. Part of it comes from living in…
You know, after thirty-eight years in the same house and seven years volunteering with our church’s building committee, I thought I’d encountered every type of contractor out there. Regular contractors,…
I’ll be honest – I’d never heard the term “regenerative design” until about a year ago. I was deep in one of my late-night research sessions (you know how it…