The living room is often called the heart of the home, a space where life is lived, stories are told, and connections are made. Bringing biophilic design into this central space is more than just decoration; it transforms how the room feels and functions in a manner that’s difficult to put into words but easy to sense upon entering. One might say that a biophilic living room has a living quality, and not just because of the usual plants. It’s as though the very principles that make it biophilic make the room alive in some indescribable, almost magical way.
One of the most unforgettable spaces I’ve come across is a living room that boasts an entire glass wall overlooking a stately oak. From a design standpoint, the oak is a big part of the allure. It is right there, almost touching, and any tree would be beautiful framed that way. But that’s not all there is to this story. The room and the oak have a relationship, and it’s a biophilic one—that often underappreciated but vitally important human-nature connection that architects and designers can help foster or, sadly, can work against.
When considering our connection with the outdoors, we must remember that we thrive in biologically natural settings. Our bodies and brains are wired to do their best when placed in environments that resemble the outdoors. This is why living rooms filled with natural materials and textures tend to also be living rooms filled with good vibes. It’s hard to be downtrodden when you’re in the presence of a semicircular bamboo table, a wool rug, or an upholstered armchair stuffed with sustainably harvested down. These materials are all healthy for both the planet and your body.
In my view, the secret to a living room that incorporates biophilic design is more than just a few obvious touches, such as adding plant life or wood, to the existing decor. It is about making the space feel welcoming and the experience of being in the room present. A friend’s home I recently toured had a biophilic living room, with an enormous picture window that framed a verdant scene. A part of the furniture arrangements that were made in the living room made sure the occupant’s body was oriented toward the window and what lay beyond it, that the living room and, by extension, the occupant were harmoniously integrated into the biophilic design that was dominant in the EN suite.
Selecting the Appropriate Natural Components
There are countless methods of incorporating biophilic design into the living room, so many that it would be impossible to name them all. The basic idea is to introduce elements reminiscent of nature, biophysical principles, or living systems into the space. And if you’re thinking that doesn’t sound like too many options, consider this: You could use plants; landscape paintings; nature-scented candles; or even water features, like an aquarium or a fountain. You could also make your living room a little more “alive” with the addition of a wall mounted to an ant farm capable of supporting a colony of ants, or a terrarium, or …
well, you get the idea.
Besides water, natural light is the main living room ingredient I tend to push for. If you’re fortunate enough to have sizable windows, almost by default, you should make the most of them. This, in my living room redesign book, means no heavy draperies to darken and blockade the window. Whatever kind of window you have, maximize its light-harvesting potential. You can still achieve the atmosphere of a cozy, intimate space with plenty of soft, warm lighting and well-placed, soon-to-be-in-visible-corners lamps. Even without that, I still seek to up the living room’s brightness coefficient by using large surface mirrors to basically fool the eye into seeing more light.
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Section 2: Enhancing the Experience—The Importance of Color, Patterns, and Shapes in a Biophilic Living Room
When using biophilic principles for inspiration, I often consider how nature’s influence could extend far beyond mere materials to the often-overlooked aspects of color, shape, and pattern. Nature doesn’t present itself in solid, uniform tones or in hard-edged geometric patterns. What appears to be a single color is often an amalgam of many shades and tints. The curves and lines of what we perceive to be “simple” forms—like a tree or a wave—are packed with variations that keep our brains happily engaged. Integrating all these elements into my designs makes for not only visually arresting spaces but also soothing ones.
Consider color, for instance. Eloquent Earth tones are an obvious choice; indeed, one might even say they are a natural selection. But I have seen living rooms that have gone way beyond just plain browns and greens. One of the most stunning interiors I’ve encountered is a near-terracotta living room. The designer drew his inspiration from colors seen in desert landscapes—from the reds, oranges, and yellows of many dunes and buttes. Having recently spent some time in the American Southwest, I can vouch for how warm and inviting a living room can be with such a palette.
In fact, it is almost hard to imagine a desert interior that isn’t somehow cozy and welcoming.
I have another cherished area that revels in the tranquil blue and green hues of the ocean. The designer, influenced by the coastal scene just outside the window, introduced these colors through soft goods and artwork. The effect was delicate yet stunning. The space felt as if it were part of the natural environment, as if the room could fill with ocean air. Blues and greens are very nearly universal in their appealing nature. They are simply not colors that one associates with anything unpleasant. Our brains are wired to find these shades pleasing; they trumpet tranquility.
A room that dares to go all out with blue and green finds itself filled with the space’s protective vibes.
Biophilic design owes its success to many unnoticed fundamental properties. One of them is patterns—natural, organic, and fractal. Patterns exist all around us, and we often take them for granted, but their presence lends our lives a sense of order. Nature’s patterns can be seen in every leaf and flower, in the bark of every tree, and in the ripples of every pebble in every stream. You could even say that nature’s patterns exist in every human-made structure apt to inhabit the portion of your brain usually reserved for the appreciation of music and dance.
Patterns, particularly the fractal variety, are pleasing to perceive and have been shown by neuroscientists to actually calm our brains.
It invites guests to stay awhile. These touches may appear insignificant, yet they generate an unconscious bond with the natural world that heightens the living room encounter. The same thing is true with the biophilic design shapes. They seem to favor curves over sharp angles. When working with a client whose living room was decidedly modern, with mostly angular, minimalist furniture, we softened the space by replacing a square coffee table with a round, live-edge wood table. This move introduced an element that still exists in the tree branches of a biophilic design: the curve.
The immediate change in atmosphere was palpable. Gone was the feeling of uptight rigidity; in its place was a relaxed and welcoming aura that tripped the light fantastic between the living room and the adjacent dining room, as if each room were a dance partner in some sort of slow-cooked symbiosis. There was nothing awkward at all about how the rooms worked together. Together!—that seems to be the secret sauce for any great living room. Even in a space serving as an entryway, one can readily achieve an effect of biophilia with the use of living edge slab wood, such as a metal- and wood-framed table that can have both nature’s and human’s living forms while trimming the appearance of an arch or a highlight in a pool of light.
Textures—and their strategic placement—are a significant, yet oft-overlooked, component of biophilic design. When it comes to the sustainable living room, the texture is what is felt and what contributes to the emotion associated with a space. A sustainable living room can be full of life, and if that is the goal, variety in texture—subtle nuance—is a perfect tool to use. Wool, cashmere, cotton, linen, and hemp all can inhabit or occupy the sustainable living room. Stone, quartz, granite, and marble can make their space within seamless designs and structures. And wood—oh, the glorious variety of wood!
Almost any kind of wood can make an appearance in a biophilic space.
One project involved the contrasts of plush, brilliantly colored fabrics—think velvet sofas and woolen blankets—mixed with materials like stone and wood. While this particular project was on the living room, this contrast could theoretically apply to any space. The softness and warmth of the COSY LLC materials, alongside our STRONGS materials (structural living room, anyone?!), is meant to evoke the kind of harmony and balance that exists in nature—another contrast I’m drawn to for not just aesthetic but also conceptual reasons. Shouldn’t a space evoke some form of life? Shouldn’t it be cozy (you know, with an element of hugging) and strong?
That contrast feels like a distinctly human one, not to mention distinctly mammalian.
We decided to use plenty of wooden accents—both in the furniture and the ceiling beams. Natural jute rugs and leather chairs added warm touches in dialogue with the wood. From the simple introduction of those basic, elemental materials, this space took on a secured, grounded sense of warmth, charismatically natural, like a true ecosystem. Somehow layering has become my signature, too. I regularly repeat this idea of stacking, of adding more than one level of close-to-the-surface visual intrigue. Plants, by their very nature, have so many different parts and levels to them. I pushed the layering principle to its limit in one of my favorite projects.
The living room features plants of not just two, but three different heights and a whole spectrum of plant types to approximate the kind of lowland tropical beauty you’d find within an inviting rainforest.
Creating a layered, immersive experience where nature envelops a space doesn’t just happen by plopping a houseplant in the corner. It requires serious thought about the design details, the provision of depth and texture, and the balancing of soft and hard elements. Biophilic design makes living rooms not just attractive, but also enveloping. When homeowners and designers think about the immersion aspect of biophilic design, they should consider living rooms—that is, the spaces where people spend a lot of time and in which they can be most receptive to the full array of biophilic effects, both visual and nonvisual.
When designing living rooms with biophilia in mind, it is very important to consider all the senses. Nature’s impact is not restricted to what we see; it is a total experience that permeates every part of our being. Some of the most effective biophilic spaces I have worked on appeal to multiple senses and create a strong environment where one’s well-being and relaxation are prioritized.
Let us begin with scent. Scent is among the most potent tools we possess to call forth emotions and memories. When you walk into a forest, the damp, earthy perfume of leaves and wood reaches you with the force of a signal, telling your brain you’re in a natural, peaceful space.
Scent, of course, is integrally bound up with the “outdoor” experience, but you can’t always replicate that in a living room—unless, perhaps, you’re using some truly fancy imitative devices. And even then, what you’re likely going to achieve is some approximation of an outdoor aroma. One of my favorite ways to work with scent indoors is through the medium of essential oils. I once had a small diffuser in my living room that was, let’s say, not exactly a conversation piece but probably more of a comment on my efforts to achieve some olfactory peace than anything else.
Still: It worked.
In a different project, we arranged dried bundles of lavender and rosemary on the living room’s open shelves. These plants, simple and elegant, gave our visual living space a dash of botanicals. But their affect was more than just visual. Over time, they released a soothing scent. Vincas and sweet violets might seem an odd juxtaposition, but what is a juxtaposition in nature? With mood-altering scents and aesthetically biophilic botanicals, the living room was a step more towards nature.
Auditory environments in the lounge
The auditory experience in a biophilic space is something that is often neglected, but it is an element as necessary as any other in the design of an interior. The natural world is full of sounds, from the whispering winds to the songs of the myriad birds that surround us. Wouldn’t it be something if we could recreate these sounds in our homes? Some might consider this a far-flung dream, but I consider it a fundamental and grounding design tenet. My listening space is as sacred as any other in my home, and I have a sound plan for making the interior of my house as biophilic as possible.
A sound plan is basic to any interior design.
In urban apartments where outdoor sounds aren’t as accessible, I’ve seen homeowners listen to nature through sound machines. One project I remember involved a living room that faced the kind of busy street you’d never want to live on—a hallway to nowhere that, unless you were walking to your car, was annoying in its insistence to be heard. We installed sound-dampening panels in the living room and then, to take the idea of the nature sound machine one step further, introduced a “nature sound system” that played something like a very, very quiet audience of forest creatures.
Your traffic-drowned mind might think of the sounds of rustling leaves, distant streams, and the occasional bird as the living room’s installed art piece. But the subtlety really socked it to you.
Creating Designs for Physical and Mental Wellness: Air Quality and Mobility
A fundamental tenet of biophilic design is creating built environments that enhance human health, well-being, and performance. Attention to air quality is paramount for achieving these outcomes, as the average person spends around 90% of their time indoors. Outdoor air typically has a much lower concentration of airborne pollutants than the average indoor environment. While it isn’t feasible to bring the exact composition of outdoor air to the average indoor space, some improvements can be made. For instance, certain biophilic living room plants like peace lilies, snake plants, and ferns have been scientifically shown to improve indoor air quality and make the space much healthier.
I have frequently recommended to clients the inclusion of houseplants in their living rooms—not only for their beauty and ability to enhance home decor but also for their air-cleansing capabilities. One plant-filled living room featured large windows that furnished the space with abundant natural light. This plant arrangement gravitated toward seating areas, creating the impression of pockets of fresher air. I have also collaborated with homeowners on the installation of living walls—vertical gardens that not only add greenery to a room but that also can help improve air circulation. These installations can be especially useful in urban environments where compromised air quality is often an issue.
Proper ventilation is also vital, and natural ventilation, where feasible, is entirely suitable. I once labored on a dwelling with cross-ventilation, where the large, lovely windows seemed to almost beckon one to open them. We inverted the notion of a “formal living space” and instead created an informal, residential room that enjoyed the soft, sweet scents, and even the faint murmurs, of the gorgeous garden just outside those big windows. It was, if you held it up as a model, a perfect example of biophilic design in action.
Daylight: Using the Force of Nature
Biophilic design should always start with natural light, which should be maximized whenever possible in living rooms and other spaces where people congregate. There’s a reason why light from the sun makes humans feel happy and energized. Illumination from the sun affects more than a room’s brightness; it also has a powerful, positive effect on a person’s mood, energy level, and even general health. When it comes to biophilic living rooms, the designers’ job is to get as close to “living in sunlight” as possible. Maximizing natural light might lead a designer to the obvious solution of big windows, but it can also be a matter of room layout and design that channels the available light to where it’s most needed.
In a notably difficult project, where hardly any natural light made it into the living room, we employed the use of reflective surfaces and light colors to liven up the room. We set mirrors at key points opposite windows, engineered the light in a particular way, and had just enough light coming in that it felt like the sun was doing at least part of its job. Light, sheer curtains instead of heavy drapes also helped; the sunlight could filter through softly without being too blocked. And even in a room that feels very cavernous, creating a connection to the outdoors by really emphasizing the daylight when it’s available can help the space feel a bit more biophilic than it would otherwise.
Lighting for the evening should closely resemble the soft, warm beauty of natural daylight. Similar to a three-way light bulb, it can be difficult to accomplish this effect in a single fixture (thus the importance of using multiple light sources), but evening light can be close to the appearance of what northeast/Midwest folk call “the first snow.” Using light fixtures (not just lamps) with warm white light adds an inviting, cozy atmosphere. My recommendation is to find sources that aren’t just “light” but fixtures that are visually and texturally warm, playful in their design, and have an organic quality to them.
To Conclude: A Room That Lives for You
The principles of biophilic design enable a true connection to be formed with the natural world. Since the living room is the primary gathering space in any home, it allows a person to truly explore the biophilic design in a way that few spaces can. I think of it as a canvas—how will you choose to paint it? Using the principles of natural design, one can virtually guarantee a natural connection in this particular space once a person walks through the door.
Be it an area that leads out to a verdant garden or a snug city living room enriched with nature-centric elements, biophilic design can infuse one’s abode with life in a way that feels both ageless and mandatory. This stems from the understanding that humans are not distinct from nature but are part of it. The more we invite its myriad forms into our homes, the more we create sanctuaries that not merely glorify health but also glorify the kind of decorative craftsmanship for which our species is uniquely known.
