What I Learned Visiting Amazing Biophilic Buildings Around the World (And How They’re Changing My Home Projects)

I never expected to get so excited about office buildings and airports, but here we are. Last month, I finally made it to Seattle to see Amazon’s famous Spheres in person, and honestly? It completely changed how I think about what’s possible when you really commit to bringing nature indoors.

Walking into those glass domes felt like entering a different world. There are 40,000 plants in there – actual cloud forest species from around the world. People are working on laptops while sitting next to massive trees. Meeting rooms are built into the landscaping. There’s a freaking waterfall. My kids would lose their minds in there.

But what really got me thinking wasn’t the wow factor – it was watching how differently people behaved in different areas. Near the water features, everyone seemed more relaxed, even when they were clearly dealing with work stress. I saw groups having what looked like really productive brainstorming sessions on the elevated walkways. It reminded me of how my son focuses better when he does homework at the window seat I built him, looking out at our backyard garden.

Turns out there’s research backing this up. A University of Melbourne study found that even brief views of nature can improve attention by up to 20%. That explains so much about what I’ve observed with my own kids at home.

Amazon spent serious money on this – we’re talking about a $4 billion headquarters project. But the architects at NBBJ didn’t just throw plants everywhere and call it good. They worked with actual horticulturists and environmental psychologists. They studied how indigenous communities in the Amazon use forest spaces, then figured out how to translate that into a modern workplace. You can tell the difference – it feels real, not like some corporate decorator’s idea of “nature.”

This got me thinking about all the other amazing biophilic projects I’ve been reading about and trying to visit when work travel allows. Each one has taught me something I’ve been able to apply at home, even on our much smaller scale and budget.

Last year, I had a business trip that let me stop at Maggie’s Oldham in the UK – it’s a cancer care center that completely blew my mind. The whole building is made from cross-laminated timber, and I mean the whole building. Walking in feels more like entering a beautiful wooden cathedral than a medical facility.

I’d read about how touching wood surfaces can actually lower your blood pressure and reduce stress hormones. Seeing it in action was incredible. The facility manager told me about patients who used to arrive anxious and pacing, now coming early just to sit in the timber-framed spaces because they find it so calming.

The building design follows natural light patterns instead of institutional logic. Spaces expand and contract in organic ways. Everything about it says “healing” rather than “medical processing.” It made me think about our own house and how certain rooms just feel better than others – usually the ones with more wood, better light, views of our garden.

Then there’s Singapore’s Changi Airport Terminal 4, which I’ve been through several times now. Most airports make you feel like you’re being processed through some kind of human-unfriendly machine. Changi is the complete opposite. They’ve got this incredible indoor forest with a 40-foot waterfall, but honestly, that’s just the showpiece.

What impressed me more was how they integrated plants and natural materials throughout the regular airport experience. The customs areas have living walls that actually make you feel less stressed instead of more anxious. Gate seating areas are surrounded by native plants that provide privacy and cut down noise. Even the bathrooms use natural materials and have garden views.

I actually didn’t want to leave during my last layover there. That has never happened to me in an airport before. It’s what researchers call “attention restoration” – environments that let your brain rest and recover instead of constantly overstimulating you. This is exactly what I’m trying to create in our home spaces, especially for my son who has ADHD.

Closer to my area, I’ve become fascinated with Seattle’s Bullitt Center. It’s supposedly the world’s most sustainable office building, but what really interests me is how they made it both environmentally friendly and great for the people working there. The whole six-story building runs on solar panels, collects rainwater, even has composting toilets.

But here’s the amazing part – every single workspace has natural light and windows that actually open. In 2024, being able to open a window at work is apparently revolutionary. They also used only materials that won’t off-gas chemicals into the air. Basically, they treated indoor air quality like it actually matters for human health.

I talked to several people who work there, and they all said the same things – better sleep, fewer sick days, actually looking forward to going to work. One guy told me he didn’t realize how much his old sealed office building was affecting him until he experienced this place.

The residential stuff is where I get really excited though. I found out about this housing development in Copenhagen called Lange Eng where they worked with actual ecologists to integrate living systems into the whole community. Each apartment building sits within carefully designed ecosystems that handle stormwater, capture carbon, and provide habitat for local wildlife.

The coolest part is how the residents have adapted their lives around these natural systems. Kids play in areas that are actually bioswales filtering water runoff. Adults use rooftop gardens for growing food and socializing. The buildings feel more like livable landscapes than typical housing developments.

What all these projects have in common is that they go way beyond just adding some plants for decoration. They integrate natural systems at every scale – from what materials they use to how the building sits on the site to how people move through the spaces. Function comes first, but the results end up being beautiful too.

Most importantly, they all recognize that humans are biological creatures with real physiological and psychological needs that can be met through thoughtful design. This isn’t feel-good fluff – there’s solid research backing it up.

Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that workers in green-certified buildings scored 26% higher on cognitive function tests. Studies from Japan show hospital patients with nature views need 23% less pain medication. Kids in classrooms with natural light and plants show better academic performance and fewer behavioral problems.

That last one really hits home for me. I’ve seen it with my own kids – they’re happier, calmer, and more focused in spaces with good natural light, plants, and connections to the outdoors. My daughter’s homework struggles improved significantly when we created a better study space with a window view and some greenery. My son’s ADHD symptoms are much more manageable when he spends time in our backyard garden before school.

What gets me excited about these big projects isn’t that I can replicate them exactly – I don’t have Amazon’s budget or Copenhagen’s planning department. But they show what’s possible when you really commit to designing with human nature in mind instead of against it.

Ten years ago, these were weird experimental projects. Now they’re becoming the standard that other developments get measured against. The conversation has shifted from “why would we integrate nature?” to “how can we do it better?”

I’m already seeing ideas from these places that I want to try at home. Better natural lighting systems, maybe some kind of small water feature for our backyard, definitely more wood surfaces in the kids’ rooms. Even looking into whether we can do something with living walls that actually works this time – my first attempt was a disaster, but I’ve learned a lot about drainage and plant selection since then.

The next generation of these projects will probably be even more amazing – buildings that can sense and respond to environmental conditions in real time, lighting that adjusts to support healthy sleep cycles, materials that actually get better over time. But it all comes back to the same basic idea: humans need connection to natural systems to thrive, and our built environments should help with that instead of getting in the way.

That’s what I’m working toward in our own house, one project at a time. It’s pretty motivating to see what’s possible when you really commit to it.