When I first started reading about biophilic design eight years ago – trying to figure out how to make our house work better for my wife after her stroke – I kept running into this idea that it was some kind of new trend. The more I dug into it, though, the more I realized we weren’t discovering anything revolutionary. We were just remembering what people used to know instinctively.
See, bringing nature into where we live isn’t some modern invention. People have been doing it for thousands of years. It’s only in the last century or so that we got so caught up in making everything “modern” and “efficient” that we designed nature right out of our homes and cities.
**What Our Ancestors Knew Without Thinking About It**
I’ve been fascinated learning about how ancient civilizations handled this. Take the Greeks – they built their cities with courtyards full of plants and open spaces where people could see the sky. The famous Hanging Gardens of Babylon weren’t just showing off; they were creating spaces where people could connect with growing things in the middle of a big city.
The Chinese figured out something we’re just rediscovering in modern design principles. Their traditional buildings flowed seamlessly between indoor and outdoor spaces. They used water features and gardens not just for decoration, but because they understood that being around these natural elements made people feel better. Their architecture worked with the landscape instead of fighting against it.
What strikes me about these ancient examples is that nobody was conducting studies or writing research papers about why this worked. They just knew. Probably the same way my wife always knew which plants would thrive in which spots in our garden, even though she never studied horticulture formally. Sometimes practical wisdom runs deeper than formal education.
These weren’t wealthy people hiring designers – this was just how communities built their spaces. Courtyards with plants, windows positioned to catch natural light, outdoor areas integrated into daily life. They understood that cutting yourself off from nature wasn’t progress; it was a recipe for feeling miserable.
**When We Started Getting It Right Again**
The Renaissance period is when you start seeing this wisdom make a comeback in a more deliberate way. People like Leonardo da Vinci were studying nature and incorporating those patterns into their designs. Not just copying what nature looked like, but understanding how natural systems actually worked and applying those principles to human spaces.
I’ve read about how Versailles was designed – those elaborate gardens weren’t just showing off royal wealth. They were creating spaces where people could experience different aspects of nature in organized ways. Walking paths through different landscapes, water features that engaged your senses, views that changed as you moved through the space.
The Enlightenment philosophers like Rousseau were writing about why connecting with nature was essential for human wellbeing. Again, nothing revolutionary – just putting words to what people had always known but were starting to forget as cities grew larger and more separated from the countryside.
**Modern Pioneers Rediscovering Old Wisdom**
Now we’ve got people like Jan Gehl studying how to make cities more livable by bringing back what we lost. His work on urban planning basically amounts to remembering that people need green spaces, places to sit outside, streets where you can walk comfortably instead of just routes for cars.
I read about Ken Yeang’s bioclimatic skyscrapers in Malaysia – vertical gardens, natural ventilation, spaces designed to work with the climate instead of fighting it with massive air conditioning systems. He’s bringing the natural world back into high-rise urban living. Sounds revolutionary until you realize he’s just applying ancient principles to modern building technology.
These contemporary biophilic designers aren’t inventing new concepts – they’re translating old wisdom into solutions for current problems. How do you create healthy living spaces when most people live in cities? How do you maintain connection with natural systems when you’re surrounded by concrete and steel?
**Making It Work for Real People**
The thing that interests me most about this history is how biophilic principles adapt to different situations. In hot climates, traditional buildings used courtyards and thick walls to create cool, shaded spaces with plants for natural cooling. In cold climates, they maximized windows facing south to capture winter sunlight and created indoor growing spaces.
That’s what I’ve been trying to do with our house – not following some designer’s template, but figuring out how to apply these principles to our specific situation. A retired couple in suburban Michigan dealing with mobility issues and fixed income. How do you bring more natural light into a 1980s ranch house without major construction? How do you create accessible outdoor spaces when traditional gardening becomes physically difficult?
The solutions I’ve found aren’t fancy or expensive, but they’re based on the same understanding our ancestors had – that humans need connection with growing things, natural light, fresh air, and views of the outdoors to feel healthy and content.
**Why This Matters More Than Ever**
What’s different now is that we’ve built environments that actively work against these natural needs. Houses sealed tight with no fresh air circulation. Workplaces with no windows. Cities with no green space. We’ve created problems our ancestors didn’t have, which is why we need people studying how to fix them.
But the solutions aren’t really new – they’re ancient wisdom applied to modern problems. The best contemporary biophilic design succeeds because it remembers what people have always known about living well.
**Learning from the Past to Build Better Futures**
The more I’ve learned about this history, the more convinced I am that we don’t need to reinvent how humans live well – we need to remember it. The pioneers of biophilic design weren’t the ancient Greeks or Chinese masters or even modern architects like Gehl and Yeang. The real pioneers were probably the first humans who figured out that building a shelter near water and planting food nearby made life better.
Every improvement I’ve made to our house – the accessible garden beds, the enlarged windows, the greenhouse where my wife can grow things year-round – is just following principles that people have known for thousands of years. We need light, we need growing things, we need outdoor air, we need spaces that connect us to natural rhythms instead of cutting us off from them.
The history of biophilic design isn’t really a story of innovation. It’s a story of forgetting and remembering, losing wisdom and finding it again. Those of us working to create better living spaces today aren’t pioneers – we’re students of our ancestors, trying to learn from people who got it right the first time.
Robert is a retired engineer in Michigan who’s spent the past few years adapting his longtime home for accessibility and wellbeing. He writes about practical, DIY ways to make homes more comfortable and life-affirming as we age — from raised-bed gardens to better natural light.
