best examples of biophilic design in residential interiors
As biophilic design consultants, we sometimes find inspiration in residential real estate projects that do not necessarily use the language of biophilia but rather leverage a connection with nature and organic design to create uplifting indoor spaces. Here we review a series of residential developments and refurbishments that do exactly that.
O Lofos Villa by Blok 722, Greece
organic interior design example
Built on the foothills of Thrypti mountain on the Greek island of Crete lies a hidden villa built with respect to its surroundings.
It is a 280m2 private residence on a sloping terrain. Instead of stairs to balance the natural elevation, a series of levels were created to allow ease of movement physically and visually throughout the space.
When creating this design, the architects pulled from a variety of structural backgrounds combining aspects of vistas from mountains, plains, and the Mediterranean Sea.
This allows it to fit cohesively within its natural setting. The vista has plentiful outdoor areas to promote healthy living.
With the site broken down into multiple smaller segments, movement through nature is encouraged in-between spaces, many of which are outdoors. The main division of the building is linked by a semi enclosed feature where the sounds of giggling water can be heard from a large water feature.
The materials used with the natural villa are largely wood and stone which bring the natural elements of biophilic interior design within its walls.
Painted with a palette of warm greys and beiges, neutral, earthy colors dominate the space. The villa was created with a desire for slow living. Its layout, structure, and divide was created to enhance the lifestyle of its occupants to promote healthy living.
Landmark Pinnacle, London, UK
example biophilic design indoor garden
Rising up above the London skyline as the city’s tallest residential tower, the Landmark Pinnacle was completed in 2022 by architects and interior designers Squire & Partners for developer Chalegrove Properties and Farrer Huxley Associates (FHA) Landscape Architects.
This residential complex has views westward of the River Thames and eastward of the docks of the Thames Barrier. These natural vistas are complemented with an earthy, soothing interior palette of blues, beiges, tans, whites and browns.
Biophilic elements of design such as potted plants, dried flowers and stones ornament the building tying it back to the natural environment. Taking a step further into nature, a floor is dedicated to pulling its occupants out of the cityscape.
Residing on the 27th floor of the building, a residential tropical garden brings the outside world in with a carefully curated collection of plants and indoor trees, the space is perfect for watching the sun rise or set as natural light shoots through the open elaborate floor of plants.
There are spaces for lounging and for relaxation. This encourages the residents to escape the intensity of nearby Canary Wharf in order to appreciate their own private slice of nature high up in the sky.
Pantheon Estate, Mykonos by Nikos Adrianopoulos
example organic interiors
A renovation by architect Nikos Adrianopoulos of a residence in Mykonos, Greece, transformed an existing villa into a luxury abode with subtle influences from both organic interior design and nature-inspired biophilic design.
Built upon a cliff, the villa has impressive views of the old city harbor and the Aegean Sea. Essential to its design process was the unification of internal and external space. Large outdoor areas accompany the indoors encouraging movement from each space.
The outdoor areas have natural views of the landscape from a sky porch with no railings ensuring not to block the breathtaking views of the area. Accompanying this, biophilic design in the exteriors ensures a smooth transition between the building and its surrounding landscape. Curvilinear furniture such as chairs, large couches, and tables are placed purposefully, making use of premium fabrics, a minimalist colour palette and textured patterns.
The view from an organically shaped pool provides picture perfect views of the sea on the horizon while an outdoor gym provides a complete set of workout equipment such as a squat rack,weights and cardio machines. Stone walls, wooden floors, and a transparent plant-based ceiling that lets small slices of light into the gym's training floor.
Moving indoors, the interior design is a harmonious selection of neutral colors - tans, whites, browns, beiges, and blacks. Curvilinear architecture brings nature’s mark inside through arches and curved organically falling countertops.
Examples of biophilic interior design are present in the woven light fixtures, stone sinks, and stone tile. One of the key elements of design within the space was created from the bare rock that the structure was built upon through open rock walls. Bare rock walls are exposed within the sunroom and bathroom, among other spaces.
Painted white bare rock walls create a wonderful natural space within a shower and sauna. Bringing nature further within the walls quarters, wood beams expand across many of the villa ceilings. The space is adorned with artwork of driftwood and curvilinear, undefined sculpture work. This renovation transformed the space into an interconnected body with its natural environment.
https://www.nikosadrianopoulos.com/projects/pantheon-residence-mykonos
The Eden, Singapore
example of multi-family residential biophilic architecture
The Eden is a private residential building located in Singapore designed by Heatherwick Studio.
From its exterior facade the key principle of biophilic design in building architecture is hard to miss - a cascading central spine of flora created by a series of balcony gardens.
Each apartment is one floor of the building fitted with its own ‘eco-balcony’.
Clam shaped in structure, they each hold sufficient soil for over 20 different species of plant life to thrive in the humid Singaporean climate.
Each sky garden is alternated giving double the height to the outdoor space.
The garden above provides a necessary shade from the hot Singapore sun and a view of plant life hanging down from above. Walking out into these spaces is like walking into your own personal jungle.
Each apartment taking an entire floor also creates opportunities for natural cross ventilation, a low-energy and altogether more pleasant experience than 24/7 air conditioning, at least as an option should owners want it!
The entire ground floor is a heavily planted garden with nooks for relaxation. The pool is lined with an array of flora to one side. Walking into the lobby with 18 meter high ceilings, plant ‘chandeliers’ hang from above helping to decorate the room but creating moments of visual intrigue and wonder too.
Casa Cerros Madrid
example of single family residential biophilic architecture
Located in the hills of Madrid, the Casa Cerros estate was renovated into a. sustainable villa with subtle traces of biophilic design that uses compact space to its maximum potential.
Located in what can be a cool climate, the villa was constructed to amplify heat and sunlight.
With a narrow south facing facade, the team at sustainable architecture studio SLOW in Barcelona had to effectively use the space to pull in as much natural light as possible.
This was executed by lifting the roof creating room for the addition of skylights and additional openings to the south through biophilic design architecture.
Amplifying the introduction of light and solar heat into the south side of the building also affected the placement of rooms within the home.
On the lighter south facing side, the most used spaces were constructed including the living room, dining room, and kitchen.
Within the North facing side of the building, the bathrooms, office, and machine room are housed. Double brick walls with insulation in between allow for heat conservation while also allowing for open brick accent walls with texture of thickness and grooves.
The residents particularly requested a fireplace so a thermo stove was installed to further conserve heat. When the fireplace is running it heats the hot water tank and heating system.
The whole building is unified through a cabin like aesthetic with a large incorporation of wooden walls, ceiling, and furniture. The villa acts as a compact, warm, rustic yet nature-inspired space for a family to enjoy the comfort of home without losing contact with the environment around them.
https://www.slowstudio.es/arquitectura/casa-cerros-madrid
real estate ESG frameworks
ESG standards / tools such as SASB, Task Force on Climate Related Disclosures (TFCD), Climate Disclosure Project (CDP), Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guide real estate developers towards sustainable real estate goals, minimizing environmental impact, maximizing their positive impact on human health and wellbeing
real estate esg / sustainability / sustainable real estate / green buildings
why does real estate esg matter?
The real estate industry is one of the largest in the world. Alone, it consumes around 40% of the world’s energy consumption, accounts for about a third of CO2 emissions, meaning a cohesive and coordinated approach to sustainability amongst developers is of urgent importance to the future of our planet’s health.
esg data for real estate investors
Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors are increasingly being applied across the real estate sector to enhance the ethical and sustainable characteristics of companies. Real estate ESG data helps measure and benchmark the sustainability of a real estate development company, providing investors with a greater degree of transparency.
how to create a sustainable real estate plan
Initially it may be difficult to narrow down a company’s specific objectives as the ESG standards available offer a conspicuously broad range of guidance and suggestions, however not all elements apply to all companies operating in the real estate sector.
It is helpful to first outline what a real estate developer may already be doing in terms of sustainable real estate, taking stock of any inherent sustainability credentials baked into its business model for example, such as modular construction (green building), downtown regeneration (social impact) or wellness real estate (healthy buildings).
To help us break down and prioritize these goals while aligning with industry best standards, a range of established frameworks are available for real estate ESG consultants to build upon.
The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, created in 2015, serve as a useful backdrop towards achieving desired impacts within any sector, this is the big picture, the view from 10,000 feet up - we should all work towards at least some of these “SDGs”!
In addition, ESG standards and tools such as SASB, the Task Force on Climate Related Disclosures (TFCD), Climate Disclosure Project (CDP), Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) all help guide real estate developers towards meeting their sustainable real estate goals, minimizing their environmental impact, maximizing their positive impact on human health and wellbeing, while also increasing transparency for investors.
ESG Disclosure & Transparency Benefits
The desire for real estate sustainability transparency within companies has increased as investors consider long-term success factors such as green building certifications, ethical business practices and a concern for building occupant wellbeing, community and giving back.
Firstly, sustainability disclosures can provide a better risk assessment and help to evaluate climate-related threats for the business in question, its suppliers and competitors. This can also provide insight to better evaluate risk over various timelines within the business (see “TCFD”).
Secondly, transparency can provide valuable information for the company to track and benchmark progress, both for internal and competitive industry goals. If real estate ESG objectives are met successfully, disclosures can improve a company’s image and investor interest through positive performance ( see “CDP”).
These factors can aid clients and investors into making better informed decisions and increase a sense of trust between investors and the business in question. Including non-financial analyses and goals (Triple Bottom Line thinking) in a real estate development business today will not only improve ESG alignment today but ensure further opportunities in the future by not falling behind real estate industry best practices.
UN Sustainable Development Goals in real estate esg plans
There are seventeen UN Sustainable Development Goals, together attempting to encompass and provide a guide to alleviate the greatest sustainability problems our world faces. These targets include a wide range—some being more relevant than others to ESG goals within the real estate industry.
For example, from an environmental standpoint, goals such as Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities, Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production, Goal 13: Climate Action, and Goal 15: Life on Land may all be applicable to the real estate sector. These goals encompass strategies such as making resilient and safe communities, encouraging sustainable consumption and production, combatting climate change, and protecting and restoring native habitats (“The 17 Goals”).
Other goals can surely be applied within the ESG framework and can serve as a helpful guide and starting point for a business. For example, Goal 3: Good Health and Well-Being can be heavily impacted by the real estate sector and could fall within the social aspect of ESG strategy.
It can be difficult to imagine applying these overarching goals to a specific sector such real estate, or more so to an individual business, but they can be used as a guide. Due to the large impact of the real estate sector on global emissions and sustainability, there is a lot of room for impact.
SASB in real estate esg strategy
SASB is a non-profit organization that provides standards to aid businesses in disclosing sustainability accounting information to its investors and the public.
Sustainability accounting evaluates a company’s performance through an ESG lens, meaning that it considers non-financial capital in addition to the financial, creating a more holistic view of a company’s achievements and future trajectories (SUSTAINABILITY).
SASB has developed ESG standards in eleven sectors, encompassing 77 different industries. The standards vary by sector based on the potential risks and sustainability opportunities (SASB). The topics are decided based on what is relevant for more than half of the industries within a sector and are suggestions for what information should be disclosed (SUSTAINABILITY).
Real Estate Owners, Developers and Investment Trusts has its own set of ESG recommendations within SASB. The identified material issues include energy and water management from an environmental perspective, and from a business and innovation lens, the management of the tenants’ sustainability impacts and climate change adaptation (SUSTAINABILITY).
Through the incorporation of SASB standards, companies can diverge from traditional financial reporting methods and provide a more holistic view of their ESG performance, helping them align more closely with ESG investor expectations.
Task Force on Climate Related Disclosures (TCFD) in real estate esg strategy
Similar to SASB, the Task Force on Climate Related Disclosures (TCFD) aims to broaden traditional financial reporting, in this case to include climate-related information and financial risks.
The TCFD helps companies provide information about the risks and opportunities associated with their business as it relates to climate change, meaning investors can access a more comprehensive picture of a business, providing a more accurate disclosure of the company’s valuation and assets (“TCFD”).
As a voluntary process, the TCFD does not impose specific methodologies but rather provides recommendations for a company to follow. In this way, companies and investors can note climate related management approaches that are being used, and how they align with the TCFD’s suggested disclosures (“TCFD”).
The TCFD contains four core elements; governance, strategy, risk management and metrics and targets, which are supported by eleven recommended disclosures. These suggestions aim to increase investor and company understanding of how finances are affected by climate-related risks, which in the future will allow for more knowledgeable and beneficial investment and company growth (“TCFD”).
Within the real estate sector, the use of TCFD more than doubled in 2020 from the combined usage from 2017-2019 (https://www.wtwco.com/en-US/Insights/2021/01/tcfd-adoption-in-the-real-estate-sector ).
With the Covid-19 pandemic, greater scrutiny has been placed on the environmental impact of companies, especially within the real estate sector and its potential to help “build back better” (“TCFD”).
Disclosures related to climate are increasingly relevant within the ESG real estate realm due to its considerable impact on our climate.
CDP in real estate esg plans
CDP is a global non-profit that runs an environmental impact disclosure system for investors, companies, cities, and regions.
It was the first program created that used investor leverage to influence the rate of environmental disclosures from companies. Over time, CDP has formed a massive dataset from its users, creating a base for smart environmental decision making and a platform to track global progress (“CDP”).
Companies who disclose through CDP will find ways to mitigate their impacts on climate change and manage their environmental risks. In addition, this information will be made available to customers, investors, and the market, adding to CDP’s data and helping progress the real estate sector towards a more sustainable future (“CDP”).
After reporting and disclosing through CDP, each company is given a benchmark score based on the annual reporting trends. This score is used to incentivize companies to further improve their environmental impacts and increase disclosure.
In addition to general questions asked in the CDP questionnaire, there are sector specific inquiries that contribute to a company’s score. This scoring system allows companies within the same sector to be more easily compared and can provide important benchmarks (“CDP”).
As mentioned above, disclosure is the key first step towards increasing environmental awareness and improvement. CDP was the first standard created for corporate environmental reporting and is a helpful objective measure of how companies are performing environmentally, and therefore a useful tool to help align a real estate company with its ESG goals (“CDP”).
Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment in real estate esg plans
The Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment (the Commitment) is a more specific framework that aligns closely with the built environment and real estate sector in particular.
Born out of a collaboration between the World Green Building Council and GRESB, the Commitment encourages the decarbonization of the built environment, removes implementation barriers, and motivates execution by others.
Compliance with this commitment requires that by 2030, existing buildings reduce their energy consumption and new developments are constructed to contain extreme efficiency (“The Net Zero”).
The Commitment incorporates the whole life cycle of a building, including both embodied and operational carbon in its analyses. Due to this inclusive outlook (note - embodied carbon….), collaboration across sectors and a strategy that focuses on transparency and circularity is essential to make it work (“The Net Zero”).
The goal of this collaboration is to facilitate the formation of sector leadership and to accelerate the market towards a carbon-free future. Those that commit to the framework are required to measure, assess, and disclose performance annually and publicly, providing information on energy demand, operational and whole life carbon emissions, as well as portfolio data. With the disclosure of this information, transparency is increased, and the data can be used to inform improvements and benchmarking opportunities (“The Net Zero”).
According to the CEO of the World Green Building Council, “the Commitment provides a framework for real estate organizations to take action towards net zero carbon portfolios”, therefore providing a valuable pathway towards achieving a company’s ESG goals (“The Net Zero”).
https://www.worldgbc.org/thecommitment
GRI in real estate esg reporting
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is the leading global framework for sustainability reporting. Once a company’s goals are outlined and their impacts are quantified, the GRI Standards provide a guide and common language to report those impacts (“Setting the Agenda”).
Essentially, the GRI Standards provides a framework by which to structure a company’s sustainability and ESG reports, providing a high level of transparency, clarity, and comprehensiveness (“Reporting”).
The GRI standards include both the Universal Standards, which are applicable to all organizations, and the new Sector Standards, which can provide more sector-specific reporting guidelines.
In the case of real estate development companies, there is a specific ‘Construction and Real Estate Sector’ which lists topics and disclosures that are the most likely to be material within that sector.
The GRI standards require disclosures associated with depletion of natural resources, deterioration of natural ecosystems, waste, as well as impacts on social wellbeing and community impacts.
Coupled with other available tools and standards, the GRI standards can provide a clear way for companies to report and understand their impacts on the environment and economy. This can help companies increase transparency and alignment with their ESG goals.
Sources
“The 17 Goals | Sustainable Development.” United Nations, United Nations, https://sdgs.un.org/goals .
“TCFD for Real Assets Investors.” PRI, 27 Apr. 2021, https://www.unpri.org/infrastructure-and-other-real-assets/tcfd-for-real-assets-investors/7495.article .
“CDP Homepage.” CDP, https://www.cdp.net/en
GRI Reporting https://www.globalreporting.org/
“The Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment.” World Green Building Council, https://www.worldgbc.org/thecommitment .
“Reporting.” Home, https://www.powercorporationcsr.com/en/responsible-management/reporting/ .
SASB, 30 Mar. 2022, https://www.sasb.org/ .
“SDGs: Answering the Big Questions for the Real Estate Industry – What, Where, Why and How?” GRESB, https://gresb.com/nl-en/2020/01/24/sdgs-answering-the-big-questions-for-the-real-estate-industry-%E2%80%93-what-where-why-and-how/ .
“Setting the Agenda for the Future.” GRI - Home, https://www.globalreporting.org/ .
SUSTAINABILITY, Shubha Mohunta DIRECTOR OF. “SASB 101 for Real Estate Owners, Developers and Investment Trusts.” Verdani, Verdani-Partners, 1 Mar. 2018, https://www.verdani.com/single-post/sasb-101-for-real-estate-owners-developers-and-investment-trusts .
“TCFD.” Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures, https://www.fsb-tcfd.org/ .
Wellbeing Interiors Q&A with Matt Morley
A 'Wellbeing Champion' is a consultancy role typical of large scale real estate development or corporate office projects alongside landlords, architects and HR teams for example. Representing the voice of occupant health and promoting strategies that can positively impact the wellness benefits of a building or interior is suddenly no longer deemed a nice to have, instead it is seen as keeping pace with market dynamics and future-proofing a project for the next five years.
Matt Morley in a rare seated moment at the MONTOYA creative co-working space in Barcelona, Spain
What was your career path into wellbeing interiors and healthy building consultancy?
I spent almost 10 years working for a real estate developer, so from a head of marketing role I eventually moved over into a Real Estate Creative Director role in-house for a development called Porto Montenegro. We built an entire town on the Adriatic coast, basically. I
I’d be called in to work with an architect, financial analyst and the operations department to design and launch new business concepts such as co-working offices, outdoor gyms, business clubs, retail stores, beach clubs and so on.
‘Give me a space and a budget and I'll create the concept for you!’
How did you end up combining nature, health and real estate interiors?
That was where I learned my trade, in a sense, but in parallel with that I was developing this interest in natural fitness, connecting with the outdoors both during exercise and through interior design.
The difference between how I felt when I was exercising in nature vs an uninspiring indoor gym became ever more clear. The same goes for office environments, so I started bringing in plants, using a standing desk and using various healthy design strategies to improve the spaces I spent most time in
Your way in to biophilic design was a combination of real estate knowledge, interior fit-out experience and a passion for nature, in other words?
Yes, although I wasn’t using the terms ‘biophilic design’, healthy buildings or wellbeing interiors back then, it was far more instinctual. In retrospect, that’s what made it all feel so urgent, my energy levels were so directly affected by the spaces I spent time in. I just didn't feel healthy in certain homes, offices or gyms. What could I do to change it?
I started hacking away at the subject, gradually realising that there was a whole school of thought largely led by the US around how to actually do wellness real estate and wellbeing interiors in a more structured way, as evidenced by the WELL Building Standard for example.
How did that lead to you setting up a health & fitness consultancy for hotel groups?
I set up my first company, Biofit, specializing in creating green and healthy gyms and wellness spaces. I now advise hotel groups and corporates around Europe on creating innovative fitness facilities and wellness activity programs for guests.
That was followed in 2019 with my second company, Biofilico, with a much broader scope, really going back to where I was before, creating a range of interior concepts but with an eco and wellness twist.
We also offer healthy building certifications and expert advisory to project teams on larger development projects or corporate offices.
What about this relatively new term of ‘Wellbeing Champion’, what does that involve?
More recently I’ve started playing the role of a Wellbeing Champion on bigger projects alongside developers, architects and HR teams, representing the voice of occupant health in other words and promoting strategies that can positively impact the wellness benefits of a building or interior.
What career path do you recommend for those who want to work in wellness interiors?
I had my own very particular way in to wellbeing interiors, there are others who have done very well having migrated across from a building engineering background, a sustainability consultant background and of course architects. All of them have a passion for working with nature though,
My particular angle on wellbeing interiors is through environmental design and the lived occupant experience combined with a strong real estate and corporate sustainability strategy perspective, that’s my magic sauce if you like!
What different responses are you seeing in the world of workplace wellbeing now post-COVID?
It’s quite hard to generalize at a country or regional level, possibly even at an industry level. I tend to think more in terms of brand culture and how a particular brand or organization applies their culture or mission and values to their response.
What I am seeing is more creative businesses such as fast moving tech startups and generally more youthful dynamic company cultures, and especially those linked to health and wellness, have all been early adopters of new more flexible approaches to working from home and flexible hours in general, where it’s about results rather than hours clocked up in front of a screen.
Contrast that with more traditional businesses that are pushing for return to the office no matter what.
From my perspective, there have to be some concessions at a building level. A structured approach I recommend goes beyond tactical, knee-jerk reactions such as ‘do we need plexiglass screens in between desks now’ or do we need more cubicles.
What about ESG in real estate? Is that relevant here?
Right, so the savvier companies are adopting an ESG strategy approach: Environmental, Social and Governance. Investors, pension funds and the like are all looking for ESG credentials in the businesses they back, creating pressure from above.
Then from below, HR teams are saying they want a healthier work environment for staff now. Bring those two together post COVID and suddenly we’re talking about indoor air quality in C-suite boardrooms in a way that wasn’t imaginable just two years ago.
Now everybody wants to know about indoor air quality and how an office environment can connect to a corporate ESG or CSR strategy.
It's been a really difficult year on so many levels and yet there does seem to be this amazing opportunity to slingshot off the back of all of this to a healthier built environment in the near future.
ESG reporting has just gone right to the top of the agenda and so if there is a silver lining to all this, for me it's that there are so many opportunities now to if not reinvent but certainly upgrade the the workplace environment in particular but also our homes and gyms, health centres even retirement homes.
How do you help workplaces evaluate or measure wellbeing interior interventions?
It’s typically a combination of qualitative and quantitative data, something like indoor air quality, for example, is very much quantitative, so installing air quality monitors around the workplace.
You can do a deep dive analysis of what's going on today, make a number of changes, effectively applying various biophilic design principles oriented towards improving the purity of the indoor air that we're breathing, things like changing the ventilation fan filters, removing any nasty materials and fabrics or upgrading certain pieces of furniture and replacing them with more natural alternatives.
Is it all about interiors and furniture or do building management policies have a role to play?
It’s definitely worth thinking about things like an eco-cleaning product policy and green procurement strategies so that going forward, anything that's coming in or bought for the workplace has been approved and signed off in terms of being chemical free and not off gassing nasty stuff into the indoor environment.
From there, you set up your indoor monitors and off you go, you've got data being produced on an hourly basis with a monitor on each floor and each key work zone that then gets analyzed in the cloud and you're set up for life.
How can an employee workplace survey help with wellbeing design?
Employee satisfaction within the workplace, done anonymously, can help us in identifying some of the softer stuff such as noise pollution, thermal comfort, bad odours, and so on all of which ca affect concentration levels negatively and therefore they damage the business in terms of productivity.
Open-plan offices are certainly not dead but clearly there are different types of work going on in the workplace that require different environments, such as solo deep work where you need to really zone in and focus, or more collaborative meetings that are all about engaging with others and bouncing ideas around creatively.
What type of a space does that require and how can biophilic design foster or promote the right outcomes?
You have also created a number of office recharge rooms in the past, what is the concept there?
In a sense this also answers the question around performance metrics for wellbeing interiors in the workplace. I did a project in London’s Canary Wharf to create a biophilic workspace or creative meeting room right by the water called The Wardian Case - Vitamin Nature space.
It was full of plants and we did a scientific research questionnaire with the University of Essex, and it was all about productivity, concentration levels, stress levels and a feeling of vitality.
Everybody spent at least an hour in the space, and we found across the board, positive responses on productivity, stress levels and concentration.
Office recharge rooms that use biophilic design are a really interesting way to convert a small space or unused office space into somewhere that can help with mental wellbeing during the work day, especially for creative workers.
Post COVID there's a real need for a focus on mental health in the workplace, making Biophilia a real trump card to play because connecting with nature has this amazing calming influence. It's instinctual!
CONTACT US TO DISCUSS YOUR WORKPLACE WELLBEING INTERIORS PROJECT
vertical farming for the workplace
The ‘Green & Healthy Places’ podcast series takes a deep-dive into the role of sustainability, wellbeing and community in real estate, offices, hotels and educational facilities. This episode is with Square Mile Farms - vertical farming for the workplace.
The ‘Green & Healthy Places’ podcast series takes a deep-dive into the role of sustainability, wellbeing and community in real estate, offices, hotels and educational facilities.
This episode is with Square Mile Farms - providing biophilia in the shape of vertical farming for the workplace.
Biophilia with vertical farming
In this episode we talk to Johnathan Ransom, Co-Founder and CEO of Square Mile Farms, a business bringing vertical farming to the home and workplace with the aim of promoting healthier, more sustainable lifestyles. I first came across them a couple of years ago and have kept an eye on their steady progress.
These mini vertical gardens are about more than just quirky wall decor, they represent a tangible connection with nature in urban environments, have a practical function in terms of producing a respectable quantity of edible leaves each month and go one better than a largely passive garden wall in a corporate office reception.
An indoor office garden, or vertical farm, like these help promote engagement amongst staff, adding intrigue and even a little fun into the office experience, right when it needs it most post-Covid.
GUEST: JOHNATHAN RANSOM, SQUARE MILE FARMS
FULL Transcript follows courtesy of Otter.ai
Matt Morley 0:14
Welcome to Episode 12 of the Green and Healthy Places podcast, in which we take a deep dive into the world of sustainability, wellness and community in the real estate and hospitality sectors. I'm your host, Matt Morley, founder of BioBlu yacht sustainability, Biofilico wellness interiors, and Biofit nature gyms. If you see value in this type of content, please hit LIKE, SHARE, or consider subscribing.
In this episode, we talk to Jonathan Ransom, Co-founder and CEO of Square Mile Farms in London, UK, a business that's bringing vertical farming to the home and workplace with the aim of promoting healthier, more sustainable lifestyles.
Healthy Buildings and ESG
I first came across Jonathan and square mile farms a couple of years ago, and I've kept an eye on their steady progress since then, as I look after the ESG and placemaking for a commercial real estate development fund in London, I'm aware that their product aligns neatly with both LEED, BREEAM green building certifications on one side, and WELL + FITWEL healthy building certifications on the other, which in turn has the knock on effect of helping with the property funds annual ESG assessment score means you get two or even three hits for the price of one.
Beyond the box ticking though these mini vertical gardens are genuinely about more than just quirky wall decorations. They represent a tangible connection with nature in urban environments, they have a practical function in terms of producing a respectable quantity of edible leaves and hubs each month, and frankly, just go one better than what is often a largely passive, vertical plant wall in a corporate office reception. A garden like this helps promote engagement among staff. It adds intrigue, and even why not a little fun into the office experience. Right when offices need it most in the post COVID era….
Jonathan, thanks for joining us. Great to have you here on the green and Healthy Places podcast. Perhaps you could give a quick introduction to who you are and what you do as co founder and CEO of square mile farms in London.
Jonathan Ransom 2:40
Yeah, okay. So my professional backgrounds in in property. I'm a chartered surveyor by training. I spent a lot of my career working in financial services, though, but with a with a property slant to it most recently was the CIO or the FinTech business in the UK called lend invest. And I think, what what what got me into doing what I'm doing today, and we'll come on to perhaps a bit more description of what that is, but is that I got a little bit disenfranchised by the world of finance, and I guess, you know, you you, there's an obvious career route in in financial services. But ultimately, it can be a little bit unsatisfying, and I was looking for a career in in a sector that is more personally rewarding and fulfilling. And my now business partner, Patrick, and I got talking about this prospect of growing fresh, healthy vegetables in the built environment, which played nicely to my professional experience with the built environment. And I guess the backdrop to all of that is a both of us having a pretty, you know, they say be being a little bit conscious or even worried about the state of our agri food sector and the impact that that has on our on the environment, but also on our personal health.
Matt Morley 4:13
And so the name square mile farms for anyone who's not familiar with it, square mile is London's financial district of CBD. And so essentially you're you're proposing or you're proposing you deliver urban vertical farms specifically to London but what's your geographic focus now?
Jonathan Ransom 4:36
Yeah, at the moment with we're focused on London and the the genesis of that that name was really that the original business model was to look at putting controlled environment farms within a square mile of the end consumer which naturally then cuts down on food miles but also re engages the, the consumer with the with the food system and the food they eat also has benefits on the nutritional content of Food as well, because food tends to lose some of its nutritional qualities, the further it travels. So that was really the genesis of square mile farms, obviously also because we're based in London and it was going to be a very urban model. So you know, that's that's why that name came about
Matt Morley 5:20
and the business model then focusing specifically on homes and offices, you're not in the game as yet of, of sort of agriculture itself a growing food for for sale and distribution. It's more about a provision of the this piece of, of hardware effectively, that produces greenery in a home or in an office environment.
Jonathan Ransom 5:42
Yeah, well, maybe I'll just take a quick moment to take you back over some of the history of the business. So we've been around for a couple of years now. And the original model was a grow to sell model. And we set up our first self built control environment farm in in Bermondsey back in towards the beginning, beginning of 2019. And we tested that market, you know, growing within the built environment to sell to local restaurants, and local chefs and local consumers ultimately, as well. And so we build what we call a flat pack farm, which and the idea was that it's something that can easily be easily assembled or disassembled within tight urban spaces. And it became quite apparent quite quickly that that model of growing to sell is very hard to make work economically, particularly if you're not doing it at large scale. And most of the controller work environment farms that you see are doing it on massive scale, but even even they I think, would be struggling to kind of turn a profit based on their operational overheads as of today. But what that meant was the we we quickly turned to what we knew a bit more and that what we knew was more about corporate big corporates and, and the built environment and go talking to big property company called British land over here in the UK, and they invited us to build one of our flatpak Farms on the roof of their a building in Paddington Central, and actually just so happens that Microsoft occupy the building that that we have that farm and the roof off. But whilst we were there, we were then able to, you know, talk to a lot of the big local occupiers such as Vodafone, these, you know, Microsoft Richland, and it became quite apparent that what they really wanted was something that helped them engage with their employees to create an experience for their employees, but also help to address some of their kind of sustainability and, and, say, community responsibilities. And so we came up with this idea of office farming. And the idea with Office farming is that we put a hydroponic farm up inside the office and run, basically an engagement model around it. So we get the employees involved in the running of the farms, they get to take home the fresh produce, but we also educate them on sustainability and, and personal health, both physical and mental health with a focus on the food you eat, where it's coming from, how it's been produced, how you consume it, what it does to body, those sorts of things. So it's going beyond the kind of this the sustainability of the building that we're located on has some benefits for that also, but also helps a company say educate their workforce and how they can live healthier, low impact lifestyles.
Matt Morley 8:58
So I was going to ask you for a clarification on the or distinction between what's commonly referred to as say, like a vertical garden wall, or a green, a green wall, which obviously in one sense plays to biophilia, a place to reconnect with nature in an urban environment, possibly it can play into productivity and potentially an air purifying benefit. But clearly, once you open the door to this being in a consumable natural leaves you open a whole discussion around the food system and relationship to food and urban farming, which is clearly where you sort of make a big right turn away from just being a decorative object right?
Jonathan Ransom 9:45
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I mean, there's there's a lot of benefits of having plants in buildings as he touched on and and there's this this phrase or word by failures is bandied around quite a lot of them. But ultimately, what it boils down to two things, one is, how does it improve the environment in which you are. So whether that's within the Office or at home, and that environment is both about, you know, air quality. Air Quality can be around acoustics, it can be around, you know, just having greenery in the office as an on may benefit to the office. But it but on the on the flip side, this is biophilia benefit, which is that that kind of goodness that humanity gets from being with nature and interacting with nature, and that's a very, can be can be a psychological thing, but it's also a physiological thing. So it's, you feel better for reason for, for reasons of, you know, 1000s of years of evolution alongside nature, the benefit of having edible plants in the office is that that interaction becomes enhanced. So if you've just got a green wall, that looks great, you know, there's a novelty there, it does look great. And it does have some benefits in terms of the quality of the air etc, in the office, but you're not interacting with it, you don't, you don't have that same interaction that naturally we might have with with nature. Whereas if it's an edible farm wall, you do interact with it, you're you're harvesting it, you're eating the produce from it, you're you're helping to plant it up. So every time you walk past it, you see the fruits of your labour, and you get some satisfaction from that. So it goes further than just sort of urban greening that say it brings in that element of engagement and an experience and, you know, it's a physical activity as well. So it does, it has some fiscal benefits as well.
Matt Morley 11:49
So when you think about the problem that you're solving, or the the unmet need that you were trying to address when you when you got started on this, what what if you like would be your competitors in that sense, or what else is in is typically in an office or a corporate office environment, such as a Microsoft or wherever it may be that is doing something similar? Because, you know, obviously, the walls have more of a passive element, whereas you're talking much more about an experiential piece, right?
Jonathan Ransom 12:17
Yeah. So I guess, what might be worth just just dwelling quickly on who the buyers of the service that services are so so one of the buyers would be someone that's responsible for fitting out the office space and making it look good and making it work well, for the employees, the other buyer is, and sort of competitors and might fall into that space might be your typical kind of office, or interior, landscaping companies. On the on the other side, the buyers are the, you know, the HR team is responsible for employee wellbeing and engagement and even recruitment and retention. And they're more interested in the kind of engagement and the experience element of it. So on that side, the people that that I guess we might come across in terms of competition for budgets that say spoil it down to that would be your people like, you know, Nuffield health, for instance, the thing about the the, and they're providing a well being service around this focused on, let's say, fitness and exercise. The thing about someone like Nuffield health is, of course, they're taking you out of the office. to to to get that experience, what we're doing is keeping you in the office, which really plays to the kind of the future of the future vision of the people have or the office post COVID. We're keeping you in the office and creating an experience for you in the office, which can get you away from your desk, create some physical activity, create some mental activity takes you away from the kind of day to day thinking about, you know, what's on your computer screen. But then alongside that we do also provide other services, such as workshops might be, you know, nutritional consultations, and we do supper clubs and things like that, which is, again, some of those things you'd expect enough field health type business to offer alongside the gym membership. So there is some similarities that say, but but we feel that our model combined so many different of the different, let's say needs of a of a big corporate.
Matt Morley 14:28
I think the activation pieces is really strong component to what you're doing to the sort of overall service offer. You mentioned. COVID and how have things been? I'm guessing budgets are being reduced, offices are being closed, therefore it's had a direct impact on perhaps new orders, or perhaps, yeah, your your pipeline of potential clients, but how are you seeing the next 12 to 24 months in a in a post COVID world and how do you think you're Duck will, will emerge from the ashes of this current crisis that the workplace is going through.
Jonathan Ransom 15:08
So, I think that the world is looking for the type of services that we offer, fortunately, admittedly, the last say nine months have been challenging, mainly because the types of the people that hold the budgets for this, this type of service are really need to have some visibility on when people come back to the office. But they're also going through, you know, a pretty involved process of trying to think about what they want that office to be for in the future. And I think even before COVID, there was a shift towards, you know, more experiential office, places that are less about places where people come and sit behind the computer screen, like a battery and, and churn out work, because you can do that at home. Frankly, it's more about engaging and say, growing your workforce, and about experiences and about interactions. And so consequently, you know, the office, the Office of tomorrow will be full of things that help foster those type of activities. They won't they won't be crammed full of desks where people perch with their laptop cell belt, they'll be more loungy in, in, in appearance. And so, you know, one thing we've been working on with Vodafone in Paddington is this idea of a Zen Garden, which is, you know, their, their idea where they create create a kind of area for people to relax and chill out. And what better kind of place to put a allotment wall, then in a, in a Zen Garden, within when the off within the Office. So it's, you know, it's very, it's very topical. And a lot of a lot of companies that we talk to now have task forces put together that are tasked with making the office suitable for the post COVID world. And so so it seems that there's there's quite a lot of activity going on in terms of reconfiguring refitting spaces to make to make it appropriate for that post COVID world, and that's where we fit in, because they want something normal, you know, lots of offices of the past might have ping pong tables, or table football or computer consoles, or whatever. But you know, an office farming model brings both the experience but also the educational side. And, and, and it takes a lot of boxes from a kind of office sustainability perspective as well. Yep,
Matt Morley 17:59
I get it. I mean, it's fun, it's engaging, it's a talking point, it's, it's a water cooler moment, in a way. So just to dig into to that process, then the idea of, you might have HR on one side, perhaps sort of brand director or marketing guys on the other, perhaps the facilities manager, or management team, around the table, who else is is involved in that process, when you go from identifying a suitable location, and perhaps you might be able to comment on what would would make up a suitable location within an office environment. And and describe that process of going from initial introduction through to actually opening one of your, your vertical farms, presumably, a few months later.
Jonathan Ransom 18:45
Yeah, I mean, it varies depending on where the kind of entry point was to the conversation, but just take one, one example. So that say, the offices, the company is looking to refurbish their space, and in light of changes that are needed post COVID. They might they, the likelihood is, then we're talking to the person responsible for the fit out, so maybe a, you know, workplace strategy person or, you know, the, in the old world, we call them kind of corporate real estate managers or something along those lines. So they then obviously, we'll be engaging with their interior designers. And at some point, they, you know, once they've got an idea of the sorts of things that they can get from us, they then introduce us to the interior designers, and we have a chat about where it can go, whether whether we, we sort of integrate it into the building services such as the plumbing or whether we have it as a standalone unit that has its own water source. We find the location and we then talk to the contractor about, you know, what services, we do need and And, you know, often if it's a wall hung unit, then we might need a some reinforcing on the wall. And then just sort of bet into that project management as the fitout goes along. And normally where they're kind of lost people in and just mounted on the wall at the end. And off it goes planted up, and people can then start engaging with it.
Matt Morley 20:23
So irrigation, the load that goes on to the wall, if it is a wall loaded piece of preferably sort of a structural wall, and some component of light, I'm guessing, or does the vertical farm come with its own lighting system integrated into the hardware?
Jonathan Ransom 20:43
Yeah, so actually, the loading isn't isn't so much of an issue, we've just mounted one in sort of double thickness plaster board. So I it's a consideration, but isn't, often doesn't become a limitation. But what it needs is a either a water source that we can plummet into for the irrigation, or relatively near to a water source so that it's quite easy to get water to the to the wall itself. But it but it's recirculating, so it doesn't need to be continually topped up. And yes, it does need a light source. But because we're talking about edible plants, they require higher intensity light than then some of the kind of conventional office plants would need. Because it you know, the light intensity does affect the growth rate, and also the flavour of the plants as well. The system has a integrate integrated lighting, which needs a little bit of thought because it does come off the face of the wall. We also use what we call hydroponic towers, which are sort of standalone units, which is literally a tower with plants growing out the side of it which have lights integrated again in like a halo effect, which we can put anywhere in the office. It doesn't doesn't need to be mounted on the wall.
Matt Morley 22:15
What are the options that in terms of the actual type of foliage that the farm is producing? And the sort of nuts and bolts of all of this at the end of the day? Is it a bag of lettuce leaves the flowers woody would typically you do? Or would you recommend growing for sort of maximum productivity and limited amount of maintenance required and so on?
Jonathan Ransom 22:38
Yeah, so you touched on a couple of good points. I wanted one. Yep. productivity is important. plants that are the kind of give you the opportunity for engagement are important. But also from an operational perspective. We don't want to be going there too frequently to replant things that you know, in the case of a lettuce, for instance, you read the entire lettuce head, so you end up having to replant the entire plant. So we do focus on leafy greens and Herbes. You can grow fruiting crops, so tomatoes, strawberries, that sort of thing in in these types of systems, but they do require a higher intensity of light. So if for instance, we're putting we have some outside space, we might use outside space to to put up put up a farm wall, an exterior farm wall or one of our hydroponic towers outside and in the summer, you could then grow things like strawberries and tomatoes, but in the office, we're growing things like lettuce, but that also like kale, chard, both of which you cut the leaves and you can leave the plant and they they grow back so you can get multiple harvests of them. And they look great as well. So you know, Rainbow rainbow chard, lots of different colours on your wall so they look fantastic and they're relatively quick growing as well. We also then Basil's as a is a very popular one. And again, you can cut the leaves and come back and it smells fantastic. So particularly when you're harvesting it creates a lovely fragrance around the office, you know, rosemary, thyme, all the all the stuff that you might grow in a English garden, the difference being that you're growing in the office, and you can do it all year round, because the office environments a lot more stable than, you know, the seasonal environment outside in the UK. So yeah, in a in a kind of nutshell. It's leafy greens and Herbes.
Matt Morley 24:38
But then you do also have now a home farm alternative, which would be presumably on a smaller scale that's more manageable. That would be more of a residential product.
Jonathan Ransom 24:50
Yeah, correct. Yeah. And, and it's worth saying that one of the main challenges with growing indoors is the lighting And, and so with with the home farms that there is much about, you know, making the most of limited outdoor space that you have as they are about indoor space. So in some homes where you have a lot of light, you can, you know, put put one indoors, and we have a lighting solution that supplements the light, which means that you're not relying on natural light. But if you're growing outdoors on a terrorist for instance, then, you know, the world's your oyster really, and it doesn't, you know, if you're growing outdoors, you might be just as inclined to grow flowers, flat flowering plants as you are edible plants. And if it's sort of overwinter, then you might put some evergreens in and our systems modular, which means that the plants each have an individual pot that you hang on to a frame that sits behind it, but it means that you can easily take that port out and replant it with different plants, or indeed create patterns on the wall of different colours. So whatever takes your fancy, really, and I think I think just touching on the this concept of a pollinator pod and a productive productive pod and those sort of things. What we're trying to do there is just in simple terms, demonstrate that, you know, each plant plants have different functions. And both in the environment, but also in terms of what you humans get out of them. Some of them are about, they look great, which are the flowering ones, and also they produce flowers. So they're great for insects as well. So the pollinator pods are great for attracting insects into your garden, which has the knock on effect of pollinating other plants that you have in the garden, so you can start creating, you know, fantastic biodiversity. And then the producer pods are, you know, edible plants. So stuff that that you can cut and eat in your kitchen and replant and off you go again. So that's that's the idea really there. We just thought that was quite a fun a fun idea of bringing bringing to life though different sort of plants that you can, you can grow.
Matt Morley 27:17
Yeah, it's exciting. It is really, yeah, sort of makes you want to grab one and get started. And there's no excuses. Once you've sorted the lightest you rent man, one can always complain about how hard it is to grow plants or wants to terrorist. But in a way, this is a different approach. You've also gone through a crowdfunding process recently. So you've raised some capital, what are your What are your plans in terms of rollout expansion or growing over the next few years?
Jonathan Ransom 27:42
So yeah, we did the crowdfunding last year, which was a fantastic success. And I think it was well timed in that a lot of the people that get involved in a lot of the investors or get involved in crowdfunding campaigns were, you know, spending a lot of time at home during lockdown, but also we're reflecting on the sorts of things that are important. And obviously, health and well being. are, you know, they're they're important, increasingly important to people. And I think our model resonated with with the crown. So we we raise half a million pounds through that process and can had nearly 900 in investors contribute, which was a fantastic, fantastic to see. So the idea is that now what we want to do is really focus on getting these farms into offices, but also into we've got a new push recently into getting farms into co living spaces. So working with the operators of the sort of apartment buildings, and putting farms here, sort of communal farms in apartment buildings and helping people then also get some production going within their apartments themselves. So we're the this year is all about kind of rolling that out, and really demonstrating how it can work and then sort of scaling off off the back of that. So I think we'll have you know, we're optimistic about getting about 15 Farms in over the next nine months or so. And you know, that that for us would be a good achievement start with,
Matt Morley 29:20
it does feel like the whole sort of biophilia movement biophilic design, made its name with with office environments, and now does seem to be being adopted, probably, I'd say both at the very, very high end of the residential market, but also with the sort of more millennial focused co living spaces. So I think I think you're onto something there. I think we really interesting to see how you, you get on with the with the CO living new business strategy. One final question, if I may, if you were to send one message out to the real estate hospitality sector in a post COVID world if you could see one change in this industry of ours over the next few years. What would you ask for?
Jonathan Ransom 30:04
I guess I'd encourage them to listen to their customers, particularly in in the sort of residential space because the the sort of types of accommodation that that people have been living in, up to now it can be pretty, you know that the urban world is a pretty cramped world, and in a world where we're spending a lot more time at home, we have to be a little more focused on people's, you know, what they need to live healthy lifestyles. And, you know, it doesn't mean you have to give them huge amounts of space, but it does mean you need to give them amenities. And and those amenities have to be beyond the kind of normal stuff of maybe having a gym in the basement, or, or what have you, it needs to be broader than that. And from from kind of combining those two, you know, the residential space and the office spaces, it shouldn't really be thinking about them independently. Because as we're seeing now, the concept of an office isn't so much about the the kind of physical manifestation of a building that you go and work it's about. It's about where you work and the the kind of immediate amenities that are provided to to be able to work in that environment. So is joining those, the kind of living environment and the working environment together and how we balance those, those two things. So I'd just encourage some kind of novel thinking around that space.
Matt Morley 31:32
Very cool. I think you are uniquely positioned to have to make your contribution to that whole process over the next few years. Good on you. So if people want to connect, what's the best way for them to reach out square mile farms?
Jonathan Ransom 31:46
The numbers on phone numbers on the website, there's an email address on there as well. We're also very active on social so if your thing is his Instagram, then follow us there you can see see what we're doing. We tend to put videos and pictures of what we're up to on there. And by all means, ping us a message. And we'll get back to you ASAP.
building wellness & sustainability with evalore spain
Talking green buildings & healthy buildings with Pablo Munoz, CEO of Evalore, Building Wellness & Sustainability
Talking green buildings & healthy buildings with Pablo Munoz, CEO of Evalore, Building Wellness & Sustainability
The ‘Green & Healthy Places’ podcast series takes a deep-dive into the role of sustainability, wellbeing and community in real estate, offices, hotels and educational facilities.
evalore building wellness & sustainability
In this episode we talk to Pablo Munoz, Co-Founder and CEO of Evalore, Building Wellness & Sustainability with offices in Barcelona and Madrid. Founded three years ago, it’s a team of engineers, architects and energy modelers with an entrepreneurial spirit that immediately caught my attention.
indoor air quality, wellness villas ands more
We discuss air quality strategies for indoor environments such as corporate offices, the integration of both green building and healthy building strategies in each project, their first timber office building in Spain called WittyWood that is currently under construction, active design strategies to promote movement in an office building, their healthy home strategies for a WELL Villa at PGA Catalunya residential golf resort in Spain, their own in-house Air First air purification certification and their Evalore Method intended to push the green & healthy building movement forward with a focus on Spain and accessible price points.
healthy & well become commoditized
We also look ahead to the next 12 months in our industry and Pablo highlights the risks of well-washing, whereby an increasing array of products and services are branded as being ‘healthy’, meaning a dose of skepticism is going to become increasingly important for those on the inside of the healthy building movement in order to protect its reputation.
air first rating system
One of the topics we touch on in the podcast is Evalore’s Air First air quality management system that sets out to offer a more accessible alternative to the more extensive and capital intensive certifications such as WELL and LEED.
For me, this looks like the first in what may be an entire new generation of such accreditation systems that adapt what works for corporate America to a more local context, in this case Spain and its commercial real estate sector.
The protocols cover Purification, Disinfection, Monitoring & Training tin protocols to enhance Indoor Air Quality.
GUEST / PABLO MUNOZ
Full transcript below…
===============
Matt Morley 0:14
Pablo, to get things going perhaps you could just give us a really quick introduction to who you are, and also to the business Evalore that you're CEO of here in Spain?
Pablo Munoz 3:05
Hi, Matt and thank you so much. It is a pleasure for me to be here with you today. My name is Paolo Munoz. I'm an architect. I was licensed here in Spain but I have worked for most of my career abroad. I first worked in London for a couple years where I worked for a small architecture company then I went in Europe for a Masters of Science in Sustainability in the urban environment. I worked for a pretty big consultancy firm in sustainability then at some point I had the opportunity to come back to Spain. I founded Evalore with two co-founders And this has been going on for three and a half years almost now.
Matt Morley 4:02
You've been up and running now with the business for about three years, as you mentioned, what does your team look like today? And I guess I have to ask this one - how how has your team had to adapt with your offices over the last 10 or 11 months during the COVID-19 crisis?
Pablo Munoz 4:36
Yes, we have a team made out of consultants, architects, engineers, and also energy modelers. For the type of services that we provide, we need to have to have a pretty diverse backgrounds for our company and for sure COVID has been a challenge for us, as well as for everyone. And we are right now working remotely for most of the time. But we also come to the office, there's a part of our work that's difficult to conduct when we are not connected. There's a piece of commitment that is renovated every time we see each other and we talk about our projects, so even though we're trying our best to not be at the office, there is part of our work that has to be conducted in person.
Matt Morley 5:57
Thinking about the indoor environment within the Office. Are you monitoring air quality For example? Have you had to install plastic privacy panels or desk dividers to break up your office space? What kind of changes have you applied using your knowledge of, for example, the WELL building standard and applying it to your own home office environment or your own corporate office environment?
Pablo Munoz 6:22
Right, so the first thing was the protocols. We had to set the way we use the office, and how often we go to the office, we try to not be all at the same time at the office. How's the schedule, and when people use the office, that was the first thing that we had to think about. But independently from that, we also adapted the office so that when we are using it, we are safe. The first part was ventilation. And this is all related to the importance of the air quality in the office. It is funny, we've been talking about it now for three or four years. That was the that that's sort of how about already started. And we started talking about the importance of taking care of the built environment we live in and the importance of the indoor spaces. And so one of the things that we do at the office is we measure the quality of the air we're breathing. So we try to ventilate and we have a system that ventilation is connected to sensors, we can make sure that ventilation is high, we also have space so that desks have separation from each other. The same thing happens in the main meeting room where we have physical barriers to separate from each other.
Matt Morley 8:34
Are your air purifiers integrated into the air conditioning HVAC system or are they standalone domestic air purifiers, like a Dyson system?
Pablo Munoz 8:49
So in our case, we have purifiers standalone on the floor, because the system we use for the air ventilation air system or a heating system did not allow for incorporating those systems.
Matt Morley 9:13
You mentioned the idea of there being more awareness now and if there is any positive change to come from what we've all been through over the last year it is an increasing awareness amongst a wider portion of the population about what indoor Environmental Quality is. Where are you seeing the growth or increase in interest for your products and services coming from?
Pablo Munoz 9:51
We have certainly seen growth in consultancy, we're seeing that people are finally more aware and more interested in the impact that spending time in buildings has, right, like, over the last year, we spent so many days, stuck in our apartments or in our homes, we all finally realized that it had an impact on our physical and emotional well being. And I think that's working in our favor in the way that finally not only clients that are people who want to buy a house or want to build their home for themselves, but also companies are integrating this thinking their projects. But also, I think we cannot forget that this is, at the end of the day, this is a sustainability crisis. In a way it is an environmental crisis. It's not very clear what the origin of the virus is. But most experts agree that it has to do with pushing too far the limit of where humans meet nature and getting to areas where we were not supposed to be. And so I think in a way, this is also helping us realize that we need to do something, we need to build in a better way, when it comes to my sector to architecture, okay, we need to be building a more efficient way for in a better way for the type for the environment.
Matt Morley 11:58
That relationship with nature can be positive, it can bring health benefits But clearly, as you say it can also bring huge risks if not treating or not respecting nature in the right way. Or we're taking it for granted that it will only bring good because clearly, you know there are certain situations such as certain animals and certain markets in China or wherever, where Yeah, we can put ourselves at risk. But to get into that the idea of of reconnecting with nature in in urban environments... I know that you'd be working on a timber built construction project in Barcelona, that's been getting quite a lot of press attention recently. Can you talk us through what that looks like and describe that project?
Pablo Munoz 12:53
Yes, for sure. This will be the Wittlewood building and it will be the first timber building of offices in Spain, a five storey building in the district of Poblenou where most new offices have been built. And it is a very cool project. We're very, very excited as it is not only going for LEED certification. )LEED is one of the most renowned green building standards in the world together with BREEAM the UK version, and USGBC is the US version). It looks into all aspects of sustainability and not only does it look into making sure that the building doesn't consume too much energy, we are using a district heating system And of course, solar panels for photovoltaic production will be available in the building. The building envelope is very sophisticated so that we can decrease the energy demand of the building for both the winter and the summer. We're looking at using sustainable materials. We're looking at using materials that do not come from very far away, and that are produced in a sustainable manner. And often we're looking into making sure that they are using the circular economy system for production. One of the really cool thing about this project is that there will be a water collection system, the water will be used for both irrigation and also for, for bathroom use. WELL is the most, in this case, the equivalent of LEED but in the health and wellness area, it is based on six years of medical and scientific research. And so the strategies that were proposed are not random, they are based on very, very specific parameters that have been proven to improve the health of the people that spend time in those buildings. And in this case, we're talking about the quality of the lighting, or making sure that the lighting doesn't interfere with the circadian needs of the people that spend time in the building. Once we've looked at in a very holistic way it also has to do with acoustic comfort, with thermal comfort, with biophilia, which is the strategy of integrating nature into the interior side of the building.
Matt Morley 16:57
How did you address the nutrition and fitness components of the WELL certification? There just might not be space for a fitness room or a gym facility or there might not be an on site restaurant facility, how have you have you addressed those chapters of the WELL certification process?
Pablo Munoz 17:23
That's, that's a challenge very often. But it is interesting, because people sometimes think that fitness has also has only to do with being able to integrate a gym facility into building, but sometimes it has to do with the way we move, for example, if we place the staircase, in an area where it can be seen then we are promoting the use of it, instead of using the elevators. Something that's appealing to people, let's say, with art pieces, or music, or with coral reefs, or even nature, we're helping people to be more active. And so that's one of the strategies that WELL addresses. Then the nutrition part is a little more challenging here as well, because there is no restaurant in this building. And in this case, one of the things that we are looking at is the vending machines, we're making sure that the food offered in the vending machine is only healthy food.
Matt Morley 18:59
Then when you're focusing on something like a single family home clearly there are even more restrictions there. However, you do both the commercial and the residential side. So if you when you're applying those WELL building philosophy or design concepts to a residential project that's maybe just made for a family such as the one you did, at the PGA Catalunya resort, what does the process of transferring that same knowledge to a completely different context where it's really more about one one family living together rather than lots of co workers spending eight hours in an office each day.
Pablo Munoz 19:49
Right, I mean the principles are the same. We need to take care of the people who work for us and that makes them more productive. And that's pretty much the main reason companies are integrating WELL into their daily lives, because they know it is profitable for them. But when it comes to us making decisions on where we decide to live, don't we want the same thing for our health? We want our family to live in a place that cannot really compromise their health. And so the same principles have been implemented in a pilot study that was the first time in the PGA Catalunya that the WELL standard was applied to a single family home. We need to make sure that the air quality is optimal, with air monitors, sensors, ventilation, high performance filters , optimal quality water We also looked at all the materials being used in the project and we were very careful to use materials that didn't have any ingredients that could be harmful for human health. People listening to us might be surprised like, oh, are there products that are allowed in our homes or in our interior that are bad for our health? Yes! I could talk for hours about that.
Matt Morley 22:45
One of the really interesting things about what you're doing is not just providing consultancy services, as architects and as experts in LEED and WELL but you seem to be taking quite an entrepreneurial approach to this whole scene. And in a way I think, genuinely making your own contribution to that. I was really interested to read about your Air First air purification certification, which seems to be inspired by the bigger players in the market, but perhaps adapting it for Spanish or local requirements. Where did you come up with that initial idea? And what was the the objective in presumably not just creating something to compete with existing certification systems, but perhaps something better adapted to the local market?
Pablo Munoz 23:51
Yes, we actually realized that there was a hidden demand that was not being satisfied. We know that there's a big demand for big health and wellness projects in Spain, in Europe in general, especially in the office building sector, but what about those smaller projects that cannot really implement those measures, because simply don't have the budget to do so? We thought, okay, how can we make it available to them too? How can we make it more simple for those smaller projects? Why can't we choose those strategies that make the most difference? And that's how Air First came about, it is a certification that looks at one of the things that nowadays is probably the most important topic - air quality. So yes it is based on WELL but while it's an open standard, that said, it has been proven to work. So let's make sure that those authorities are available to everyone right, it is a way to democratize those standards for everyone.
Matt Morley 26:08
So then a separate piece of intellectual property compared to what you describe, is your Evalore Method, is that just your process? Or is there more to it?
Pablo Munoz 26:31
It is a way of working, we have set a very clear way of first communicating with a client, making sure of understanding what would they need and what are the goals of the project. And then working together through the process to make sure they they reach those goals through the strategies that we propose. And then helping them communicate those strategies that they have implemented at the end of project, that's the method or first would sort of be one of the forms that the Evalore method can take. Imagine that could be an office project, or it could be a building project for for a residential project or it could be a school and also a co-working has been one of our projects.
Matt Morley 28:45
It really looks to be about democratizing that knowledge and the scientific backing behind this whole approach to creating healthy buildings. But in a sense, it's almost like the next generation coming through now where the parents will be LEED and WELL, now there's the new generation, taking that knowledge and moving it forward and adapting it to new markets and new demands. I know you mentioned before we started talking today that you're also working on a modular homes project, perhaps you could is that is that also a healthy home concept that you're developing?
Pablo Munoz 29:45
Yes, yes. What you said about the parents being LEED and Well, all those standards in fact, what we've seen over the last few years is that codes created by the administration are little by little catching up and getting closer to our standards. And the main purpose, in my opinion, the main value of those standards, is to set a very high standard for those codes to catch up to, and so this is very, very interesting to me. And those standards are not a goal in itself, they are a tool to take buildings to the next level. And so that's the way we like to work, we don't make projects just to reach those standards, we make projects to reach certain levels of excellence. Right?
Unknown Speaker 31:00
So what about the modular homes project?
Pablo Munoz 31:15
Yes, this is a new project we're working on at the moment, we're working with a partner that create modular homes made out of silver concrete, which is a very, very interesting product, because it has really high benefits, it is a high performance material, because it can be used as a structural material, but same time, it has very high insulation benefits, both on the acoustic side and also on the thermal side. And it allows us to work in a modular way. So this is sort of like a research project we have started recently, but it is one of the new things that we have started to work on and together with this company that usually builds concrete homes, we are integrating all those health and wellness and sustainability measures. We are very excited to see that come to light.
Matt Morley 32:48
It feels like there's just so many different small niche corners of the real estate market that have yet to be touched by this kind of sustainable and healthy building approach. Right? There's just still so much to do. It sounds like you guys are really innovating and pushing the boundaries and hustling hard, which is great to see. If you were to look a year down the line into the future, what do you see as being the key trends?
Pablo Munoz 33:36
Well, I think one of the main trends is that wellness in general is going to be much more integrated in projects all over the world. It happened with sustainability and green building. Actually we reached a point of greenwashing in which everyone and everything and every product was 'green'. And then that was when the standards took on greater importance. I think a similar thing is going to happen with wellness and we need to be careful not everything is going to be labelled 'healthy' in the future. Every product is not going to take care of your health, it's not going to kill Corona.
Matt Morley 34:27
Amazing. Well, best of luck with the next year and I'm sure you have a very bright future with the business! Where can people find you online?
Pablo Munoz 36:02
Well, they can find us in our website, which is Evalore.es and also on social media and on Twitter and LinkedIn. So thank you very much for the time Matt it's been a pleasure for me to be here with you.
sustainable masterplanned community Quinta do Lago
Green & Healthy Places podcast episode 16: Quinta do Lago is a sustainably-minded, masterplanned community development in Portugal's Algarve region. This residential resort focuses on outdoor living with 2500 acres of land with only 25% can be developed on.
our ‘Green & Healthy Places’ podcast series takes a deep-dive into the role of sustainability, wellbeing and community in real estate and hospitality, for episode 16 we are with Sean Moriarty, CEO of Quinta do Lago in Portugal
A sustainable masterplanned community
Today we are in my old home of Portugal, specifically in the idyllic Algarve region in the south to talk to Sean Moriarty, CEO of Quinta do Lago, a sustainably-minded, masterplanned community development with 50 years of history behind it. The residential resort focuses on outdoor living with 2500 acres of land with only 25% can be developed on.
As well as being home to some, it’s also a tourist destination in its own right with water-efficient golf courses, boutique hotels, a sports campus, restaurants and retail as well as its own nature reserve and a white sand beach, even their own on-site farm.
GUEST / Sean Moriarty, CEO, Quinta do Lago
https://www.quintadolago.com/en/
===============
Full transcript follows, courtesy of Otter.ai (excuse typos)
Welcome to Episode 16 of the Green and Healthy Places podcast, in which we take a deep dive into the themes of wellness and sustainability in real estate and hospitality. Today, we're in my old home of Portugal, specifically in the idyllic Algarve region to the south. Talking to Sean Moriarty, CEO of Quinta de Lago, a sustainably minded, mixed use development with over 50 years of history behind it.
The residential resort focuses on outdoor living with two and a half 1000 acres of land which only 25% can be developed on, as well as being home to some. It's also a tourist destination in its own right, with golf courses, hotels, sports, campus, restaurants, and retail, as well as its own nature reserve and a white sand beach, even their own on site farm. If you like this type of content, please hit subscribe. You can find my contact details and those of the logo in the show notes. So let's get into it. Here's CEO Sean Moriarty.
Sean, thanks so much for joining me today. It's a real pleasure. There's so much we could talk about, you've got a huge project and a huge remit. Today we're going to focus on more the green, health and wellness aspects but perhaps just for those who aren't familiar with kin to the logo, just a very brief introduction to the project and its various components.
sean 1:41
Yeah, good morning. And thanks. Thank you for inviting me. It's, it's great to be joining you. So Kindred Lago is in the very south of Portugal, it's 12 minutes from from faraway airport. And we really are spoiled with nature here. It's 50 years old. Now Quinta do Lago was first founded. And it's changed a huge amount in in those 50 years. And I suppose in the last number of years, and some game changes for us was the campus. That's one of the latest inventions. We built new homes, but very much focusing on outdoor living, which is a huge part of Quinta do Lago - also safety, nature, outdoor living, a sense of community, and which was a big element of what the campus brought. So it's built on 2500 acres of land, we respect the greenbelt. So you can only build on 25% of the land. So, there's no high rising buildings, all the buildings are all built at the same height. It is an architectural dream world because they can have different styles. But it's, everything's built at the same height. Everybody's got big gardens, you know, it looks, it looks very good.
Matt Morley 3:10
So just to put that in perspective, essentially, it is a residential community, first and foremost. But then you also have the golf and you have the hotel component. So you're open to the public but you also have those who invest by and live on site for at least part of the year.
sean 3:30
Exactly. So it's residential, it is a big part of our resort here. So you've got a number of villas, mainly villas, and then you've got some condominiums which would have mixture of townhouses and apartments. So as over the last number of years, and now in particular, during COVID. We're seeing residents living down here more often, and for longer periods of time. But Quinta do Lago is open for tourism, we get a lot of passing through traffic, but it's, you know, it's from generations of all right now we're seeing some amazing things here of three generations of people that are quarantining at Quinta do Lago. So the age profile is very much changing over the last 18 months or 24 months.
Matt Morley 4:24
Getting younger?
Unknown Speaker 4:25
Younger, younger. So, you know, if you go back maybe six years ago, the average age of our real estate buyer was in the late 60s, late 60s, probably even early 70s. Now it's mid 40s for 85% for buyers.
Matt Morley 4:43
I think that's one of the things that really interests me most is just how, obviously, the project's got 50 years of history behind it, but it does seem to now just be hitting this crest of a wave right which is suddenly a turn to Healthy Living - health has become the new wealth. And it feels like you are neatly positioned to capitalize on that. But clearly, it wasn't the case, necessarily, as I understand it 50 years ago, right? So I mean are you seeing the effects of that yourself?
sean 5:15
you know, you see a lot of marketing throughout the world of trying to get in on the buzz of, you know, it's a healthy place to be and invest in your wellness and this kind of stuff. Quinta do Lago is situated on the national park, which is an amazing place, if you haven't been there, you need to take a walk or cycle along, it really is mind blowing. so Quinta has probably been saying this for a long, long time - it's the kind of environment that it is low density, you know, clean air. And now it's really become more important over the last two years, and in particular, in the past 12 months for, for the reasons that we know, but it really is top of mind, I think for people, it's top of mind for younger generations, I think schools now in most parts of the world, you're in better parts of Europe, in particular, they're really getting behind the whole sustainability piece. My nine year old can have conversations with me about sustainability that I don't fully understand, I have to admit. And that's a great, great place to be.
Matt Morley 6:33
clearly, in one sense, there's wider external factors that are turning in your direction, but how have you, as a team, strategically had to respond to what's going on around over the last two years at what it's been a case of new packages, new facilities, how have you tweaked or adapted the offer?
sean 6:53
You know, we really want to be the leaders, we want to be leaders of change. And that's been a part of our journey for the last number of years. And that's why we invested so much in our resort. Over the last eight years, nine years, we've we've invested over 70 million in just a resort in in revamping it in various different things. And, you know, during this lockdown pandemic, we said, let's now take advantage of this time, and start on our golf courses. Our golf is a huge part of our business. And we've had the number one golf course in Europe for a number of years. But, you know, it's it's no longer about having great greens and clean bunkers, you also have to have really play a huge part in the environment. And we went on a heavy audit on on the machinery we're using on our resorts, in our golf courses, in particular water pumps, and the how accurate these guys were. And it was a surprise to us, to us huge improvements to be made. So that got us then on the movement of investing in our in our golf course, in particular, we're putting in 7 million into that at the moment. But you know, one of the big results out of that is and we've completely changed the water system that we've put in, we've redesigned or got help to redesign our pumps because they weren't efficient enough. And at the end of this we're going to be using 20 to 30% less water consumption per annum, which is massive in an area like this, where water is so important in the warm weather environment. So that you know that's that's one piece with hundreds of pieces I could speak to you about including our farms and everything else...
Matt Morley 8:40
you mentioned the onsite farm and that was going to be one of my questions... Is that more of a soft marketing piece? Or is it literally a functional working farm that contributes to the restaurant?
sean 9:02
Well, to be honest with you, we had that piece of land a number of years ago and we really wanted to get into we want to evolve our restaurants quite a bit. And to buy local is very important for us to buy local is actually harder than it seems even though we've got amazing fresh markets here. You know, I think there's still quite a bit of work to do in local, which I support by the way on local governments and and food safety controls of how they can help the local food market producer and the restaurant owners to get that traceability of food product from A to B, I think there's still quite a bit of work to do not and that will be a game changer for everybody when that happens. So, you know we found it hard to get certain types of vegetables, certain types of products. So we said let's use this piece of ground and grow Our own and it started from there, it then became a wishlist for the chef's, I want this and I need this, I can't get this anywhere. And it evolved from there, then we have another couple of acres land on the road that wasn't being used. We farmed that. And we've turned it into five acres of farm now for vegetables are grown, and we've got greenhouses in it. And it's To be honest, it's only right now, in the past couple of months, two years later, that i'm really seen the impact of this, we do a lot of takeaway food now on home delivery food for customers because of lockdown, and the colors of the different vegetables, the freshness of it. It's really amazing. Now we're going to expand quite a bit, I've got some exciting things happening this year but yeah, it's not something that we're making a lot of money out of. But it's it's bringing a huge change in our footprint, of course, but also the quality of service we're providing.
Matt Morley 11:05
You mentioned, your relationship with the wider community. And obviously, we talk now about community often in the same breath as sustainability and wellness. Just wondering if there are other things that you're doing or how else you're, you're engaging with the community? Has that been a piece of your your CSR plan from the beginning?
sean 11:30
Yeah, we've we've always had a great connection with the community here with the residents and guests that come in, we've got a quite a large database. You know, there's, we've got a lot of golf club members in the campus, you know, games like paddle it brings together people together, you've got various different groups. I think what really stood out very quickly here last year, when the pandemic started off, ourselves and the rest of the residents very quickly, within one week pull together at the very beginning to raise funds for the local hospital. And I think it took nine days, and there was a half a million donated to the local hospital to get some machinery that they really needed. And that how quick that pulled together was amazing. The residents just grabbed it, lead it, I didn't have to be very much involved, and got involved a few times. And it was just completed. And I was just looking at my WhatsApp groups lately, they're still talking on it, there's still pieces going on, that showed a sense of community, you know, whereas at times, it seems it's very transient here, people plugged in very fast. I spoke to seven or eight residents this week about a new restaurant, we're opening up and bounced a few names off them to get their feedback. Funnily enough, all seven of them had different opinions, it didn't make my life any easier. But you know, we do engage quite a bit.
Matt Morley 13:18
There's that interaction then with your key stakeholders, I'm just wondering within the context of sustainability in your efforts there. Because you have been putting out a lot of content recently around your new sort of eco strategy. And there's clearly a lot of thinking that's gone into that. Is that being driven, if you like by those residential stakeholders, or is that come from above, from from sort of the boardroom level?
sean 13:50
the main driver is probably from within, you know, it wasn't pushed upon us to say you should be doing this. the basics of sustainability is a given, you know, it's frowned upon if you're still talking about how are you getting rid of plastic? Like that's, that's like in retail in the 90s when we had some great customer service people going around saying they can really train your staff to be the best trained people ever. Really, how are you going to do that? I'll train them how to say hello, please and thank you. That's a given. You know, that's the basics - if you put out a plastic straw, it's just frowned upon, it can't happen. But we really need to take it way above and beyond that, food is one of the quickest and easiest ways for people to realize that what you're doing and why we're doing it and to do it and eventually we want to have Carbon menus that you understand the carbon footprint of the food that you have on that menu. Where does it come from? And I think it's eventually that's where we'd like to get to in one or two of our locations and explain if we look, you really love figs, figs are out of season now, so I had to get them from Brazil.
Matt Morley 15:20
you mentioned the campus. And that would be perhaps another example of where you really push the boundaries. So the question begs asking, again, did that come from demand from the market? Or did you just say, you know, what, we're not going to do a standard gym, we're gonna completely raise the bar on that and set a new standard for hotel and resort residential gyms.
sean 16:20
I think to be fair, our shareholder no matter what he does, it's not going to be standard, it has to be above that. And I think that's what the demand is, if we're going to maintain this leadership role of resorts , it's expected that it's going to be above and beyond what the norm would be. And, you know, today, we really wanted it to be a game changer when it came to the log of so the campus ideally, in our mindset, when we set it out, we wanted the campus to become a flight to destination, not just Portugal to be a flight to destination. It took two years to build. Our first teams, they came from Beijing, they came from the Premiership in the UK, they traveled from all over the world , PSG, with various different teams here, football teams, and they haven't been in Quinta do Lago before, a lot of those players have never been here. So they came here because of the campus. So and that's really what we wanted to wanted to do. But the important thing about the campuses, it's built to the standard for the elite athletes. our tagline is very clear, be elite, whatever your level. And so it's open for everybody. So you can train with the elite athletes at your side, we don't close off parts of it, you know, unless there's a big football team here, and they need some privacy. We've got all the machinery, all the techniques, and the coaches that will train an elite athlete, and it's open for everybody. So for residents and guests, you know, I use it every day, and I'm elite at my level, I'm not at somebody else's level. And that's what we want it to be. You know, it's it's, it's a we're a big believer in backing the underdog.
Matt Morley 18:29
clearly, the temptation with the gym is to say, Okay, we'll put in some hardwood flooring, with the mirrors on the walls, but some lighting in perhaps a plant in the corner, and then you get Technogym in and and they just kind of do the rest, right? They just fit it out with all that the usual gear and sell you lots of strength machinery. At some point, you said, okay, no, we're gonna do it differently. Did you then have to factor in the additional revenue streams around bringing in and attracting pro teams? Because there's a gap, right? There's a big step to go from your standard investment. Or was it a bit of a leap of faith that there was just demand out there, and that if you, if you build it, they will come?
sean 19:22
You know, we were lucky enough. We met a lot of contacts. And we were able to speak to some football teams and managers and ask them, you know, of places you go to where's the best. And we didn't want to know why it was the best. It's what was missing from it. And we ended up with a list of things that was missing. And that's what we went after is those things that was missing, because the rest of it would pull together. But if you have stuff that nobody else has, that's unique selling point Right. So the pitch was the biggest, probably a big game changer and a big investment, it's 95% natural grass and the rest of it is made up, we're the only one in Europe that you can hire that pitch from. But yet, that's the pitch that PSG will play on, the pitch Man City play on in their stadium, and they, everywhere else, they were going to have their camps didn't have that pitch to train up. And that was a huge investment compared to the normal pitch that we could have put in, a huge difference. But the difference if you've got a big game coming up the Champions League game coming up, you know, you'll get your stats off the pitch of how much water you're going to have on it, what's the role of the ball going to be the distance of it, what's the bounce is going to be, we can replicate that pitch in three days. And that's that was unique. So that's clearly was a decision, the hope that that would be a hugely important week, we believe that would be important. And that was what we were gambling on. And it has turned out that it is quite important for people.
Matt Morley 21:13
So there's in some cases where you make these interventions, and you make a bet on the being demand out there for it. And other times, clearly a large part of your your strategy is just to leave nature where it is and not intervene. You mentioned the low density strategy. How do you plan ahead in terms of leaving certain amounts untouched and encouraging people to connect with nature, because clearly, there's this big shift now towards that spending more time outside in the fresh air? You've obviously got commercial demands on the one side, but then the in the same sense, at the same time protecting your future by allowing enough nature to remain untouched. So how do you how do you juggle those two?
sean 21:56
Well, you know, there's, there's a master plan in place for almost 50 years now, since the since it was founded, of protecting that amount of greenbelt. And we've never moved from that. And in fact, we're extremely strict on it. So when people are building houses, buying plots, here, there's only a limited amount of plots left. And there's a huge demand , the buildability per plot is clearly marked out. that's your maximum. And it won't budge from that. And everybody in these areas, not us, architects, municipalities, designers, they're all clear about that. That will never change, we will never be going back to redesign the master plan to say, Can we have a bit of this greenbelt back or take a bit here, take a bit there.
Matt Morley 23:01
So your role clearly then is to is to steady the ship and guide it on that path because you sort of know where you're going to some extent, but then within that, obviously, there's lots of room to, to experiment and to do what you're doing, which is to innovate and create new products and services. So looking ahead to the next one to three years down the pipeline, what do you have coming up, like, what are your next new launches that you have coming?
sean 23:27
Well, my next immediate one, which is quite exciting, and then in a lot of places that might seem like a small thing for us, it's a big piece, it's expanding, continue to expand the farm we have, but we're going to build a bee farm. And we've got a number of guys that work for us that are very qualified in this field. So they're very excited to get into a new new project and a new role. And that's, I think, gonna be exciting for us. Like I see this as every customer that comes and rents a villa from us or stays in our hotel, we'll get a jar of honey leaving and it will be another unique piece of of Quinta do logo and the Algarve. We're going to continue to evolve the outdoor living, you know, you mentioned that and the whole health and wellness piece of it we're really starting to become comfortable with that and providing a good service on that. You know, we've got good golf, we've got good tennis, we're evolving our cycling routes. Right now we've got since you were here a couple years ago we've got a new nature trails, it's linking up different beaches and you're off the sand dune. It's amazing and you can see everything that's going on around you it's it's great when the tide is in and you've got all the boards around you and flamingos there. We're very much going to push out a lot. And you know, we're it's it's a lot a lot of things now is about packages, I think people like decisions to be made for more at least to be guided into, I'll take care of it. What do you want to do? You know, if you're coming, you're going to travel for the first time. You want clean living open spaces. What kind of foods do you like? What kind of exercise do you like? Right down to we will label the shelves on your fridge that there starts shelf, that's mom's shelf. This is the baby shelf of what you've told us and what feedback you've given us and pack it and plan out your entire week if you want to de stress and relax or you want a fusion and lots of activity. And already, we're getting lots of great feedback on that. So I think we're going to continue to expand on that. We will look at d more real estate. We're just looking at plans on that at the moment. But we're looking forward to getting people back here.
Matt Morley 26:09
You got plenty going on. It's impressive stuff. So thank you very much for your time.
sean 26:13
It's been great. Thank you, Matt.
esg real estate consultancy in london, UK
we have an ongoing real estate ESG consultancy role for Black Mountain Partners real estate development fund in London, currently reimagining 68 King William Street.
we have an ongoing real estate ESG advisory role with Black Mountain Partners in London, UK
boutique real estate ESG consultants in London, UK
we create strategic sustainability plans for a business and help deliver those objectives on an ongoing basis.
Examples of our real estate ESG consultancy deliverables for Black Mountain Partners in London, UK
Alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals
Evidence of aligning the business with UN Sustainable Development goals, specifically three were elected as targets where most impact can be made:
3/ Good Health & Wellbeing
11/ Sustainable Cities & Communities
13/ Climate Action
An ESG-led development strategy
Evidence of the company having adopted the systems thinking strategies of the Circular Economy and Cradle to Cradle in the initial selection of its Developments and subsequently in their design, delivery and ongoing operation, right through to re-purposing or demolition later in the building’s life.
Employee Satisfaction Survey
We carried out an employee satisfaction survey in July 2020, using these outputs to identified a number of key themes to target for employee engagement over the coming year, then attached an action to each of them and scheduled follow-up 1-on-1 sessions with the CEO for a later date. Key themes included office acoustics, indoor air quality, biophilia and plants, nutrition in the office kitchen and active ergonomics.
Creation of a Company-wide Environmental Policy
We wrote an overview of the company’s approach to systems thinking, demolition works, materials selection, in-built flexibility, lifecycle strategy, sustainable site selection as well as location & transportation objectives as they relate to green building.
Social Enterprise Partnerships & Community Outreach Plan
We implemented a comprehensive series of social enterprise partnerships as part of a community outreach program, many of these changes also have a positive impact on creating a healthy office too. From office soap supplies by The Soap Co, to fairtrade organic coffee by Cafedirect an award-winning B Corp business, carbon neutral BELU mineral water, fruit delivered in biodegradable boxes by Fruitful in Croydon and ethical stationery supplies via fully carbon neutral EthStat.
Net Zero Carbon Building Commitment
We helped the business commit to following the World Green Building Council Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment that states all buildings within the portfolio should be Net Zero Carbon by 2030 at the latest.
Staff Training & Professional Development Plan
We arranged for a number of additional staff training sessions including mental health first aider training and LEED Green Associate study.
We planned and delivered the company’s first annual GRESB real estate ESG assessment submission. This is both a considerable amount of project administration on the one hand and tactical implementation of multiple smaller components of a wider ESG strategy for the business as a whole (see example above).
Mental Health Awareness
We aligned the company with the Lord Mayor's Appeal Healthy City campaign around promoting greater mental health awareness in the workplace by assigning a mental health officer who took specific training to become a Mental Health First Aider with Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) England, a social enterprise offering specialist workplace training.
Waste Management Strategy
We created a waste strategy covering design, construction and operational phases of the building process.
Created a Governance Policy
Created an anti-corruption and anti-bribery company policy
Created a Whistleblower Policy
Created an IT & Communications Systems Policy
Created a disciplinary procedure policy
Created a Privacy Standard
Contact us here to discuss your corporate social responsibility or ESG strategy requirements
RESET Air standard for healthy building & interiors
Our introduction to the RESET Air healthy building standard and certification process, from a consultant’s perspective.
A healthy workplace consultant’s review
What is the RESET Air quality standard & certification?
RESET stands for “Regenerative, ecological, social and economic targets”.
The company was started by architects in Shanghai in 2001 adopting an eastern perspective based on a 5000 year history of health and regeneration, rather than the explicitly green / sustainable approach promoted in the west.
Unlike other green building or healthy building standards, such as LEED, WELL or FITWEL, RESET AIR does not insist on any set, prescribed paths towards achieving high quality indoor air results.
Their approach is simply to leave the door open to innovation, how each project gets there is up to the project team. It is the destination that matters most in this instance, RESET do not concern themselves with prescribing the journey.
In their terms, this is a biomimetic approach, that takes its inspiration from nature and the biosphere’s 3.8 billion year history. They talk our language in other words!
What standards make up RESET Air?
Deployment and installation of monitors (APs are trained to create a professional monitor deployment plan
Standards for qualified monitors (only Grade A and B, not retail grade C)
Standards for collecting and reporting data via accredited cloud data providers (priority is data completeness and data on a project meeting targets for key pollutants of TVOC, CO2 and PM2.5 specifically)
The goal here is effectively to make occupant health measurable leveraging technology, shifting the focus from prescriptive design to measured results, using cloud software and making building data ‘social’ (easily available to occupants).
Why should a real estate development engage with RESET Air?
Green buildings have been shown to have a positive impact on cognitive scores, even a 10% increase in productivity in an office or workplace can pay potentially for or greatly offset a business’s rental costs.
What’s more, health & safety are often the main criteria in building satisfaction for occupants. Deliver a healthy building with high quality indoor air and you add value to the property in other words.
It is worth stating too that RESET have launched with RESET AIR but recently announced a series of other declinations that shows the true ambitions of this young contender in the green & healthy building sector.
Next up is a MATERIALS standard, currently in pilot phase at the time of writing, that will be followed by standards for WATER, ENERGY, and waste or CIRCULARITY (all three still under development).
What makes the RESET Air quality standard different?
It’s all about integration of available technology that has been rigorously tried, tested and maintained to ultimately create buildings with feedback loops, buildings and real estate that ‘talk to us’.
So whether it be a Core & Shell or a Commercial Interiors fit-out, the data is king.
Pollution thresholds have been adopted from best practices from existing authorities such as ASHRAE, leaning on other specialist institutions in other words.
Why is Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) so important?
Indoor pollutants such as CO2 have a negative impact on cognitive function and performance. the best solution is source control - nipping the problem in the bud, by not bringing harmful materials into the space that carry chemicals, VOCs or off-gases. For that, we need building materials and fit-out materials that disclose their chemical ingredients, ideally with a healthy product accreditation to back up their claims.
One of the main culprits in this sense are Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) or chemicals that off-gas at ambient temperature from building materials such as particle board, glues, paints and carpet backing
Particulate Matter PM2.5 and PM10 are made up of dust and synthetic materials decomposing around us from furniture, fabrics and so on. For RESET, Carbon Monoxide is only relevant for projects where combustion is present. As reference, CO reduces the amount of oxygen transported in the bloodstream, making it potentially lethal.
Sensor technology cannot cover every pollutant, other air quality sensors do exist but they are prohibitively expensive, so as the market for high-grade sensors steadily democratizes over coming years, new pollutants will be incorporated into the standard.
What air quality monitors are accepted by RESET AIR?
Direct read or hand-held instruments may be good for a walk-through survey or in detecting a specific pollutant but they have been deemed unsuitable for RESET as the standard requires high quality and constant air quality data in order to detect trends and patterns over time in a specific, fixed location. A lab test is good for a deep-dive but will only reflect a specific moment in time.
RESET provides standards for the deployment, location and installation of monitors that have been classified as Grade A (reference grade) or Grade B (commercial grade) only, excluding the increasingly common consumer Grade C.
It is RESET APs (accredited professionals) that are responsible for the monitor deployment plan, RESET then acts as the neutral stakeholder capturing data in the cloud. As all monitors will gradually drift over time and need to be cleaned / recalibrated, the occasional follow-up site visit is required to inspect the monitors, again by a RESET Accredited Professional.
To discuss Biofilico assisting with your project’s RESET Air certification process please contact us here.
Wellness Architecture for Healthy Buildings
Pati Santos is the Founder of The Good Thing, a new architecture practice focused on healthy buildings & wellness interiors in London, UK and one of our favourite designers of the moment!
The ‘Green & Healthy Places’ podcast series takes a deep-dive into the role of sustainability, wellbeing and community in real estate, offices, hotels and educational facilities.
wellness architecture with the good thing
Pati Santos is the Founder of The Good Thing, a new architecture practice focused on health & wellness in London, UK.
biophilic design & the well building standard
Pati worked with world renowned landscape architects Lily and Charles Jencks for many years where she developed an interest in environmental psychology and biophilic design, eventually certifying in the WELL Building Standard and setting up her own practice.
green buildings / healthy buildings
We discuss the distinction between design components and operational policies within the WELL system; the role of natural and toxin-free materials in creating green and healthy buildings, the potential of timber in constructing urban buildings, the connection between sustainability and wellness within a client's brief, the benefits of circadian lighting systems, the new WELL Health & Safety Seal as a response from commercial real estate to the Covid crisis and the shift toward healthier, greener homes equipped for both work and exercise.
to discuss collaborating with Biofilico on your next wellness interiors or biophilic design project, potentially with Pati as well (!) please contact us here
LEED certification - learn all about LEED rating system
LEED green buildings consider both a healthy indoor environment, while also reducing the building’s environmental impact.
In this article we will explain the basics of the U.S. Green Building Council & LEED and how green building benefits both our lives and the planet we inhabit. We will look specifically at the LEED Certification, without doubt the dominant green building qualification in the global real estate industry today.
LEED buildings consider both the human aspect, working to create a healthy indoor environment for its occupiers, while also reducing the building’s environmental impact - from waste management, to energy use, water consumption, materials selection and more.
From motivation boosts to an increase of life expectancy, living and working in a healthy environment benefits humans in a variety of ways. Spending eight hours sitting in a poorly lit office filled with stale air on the other hand, not only impacts the productivity of the office workers but can have a negative affect on their lives outside of the building too.
Working and living in poor indoor conditions (often referred to as ‘sick building syndrome’) has been linked to numerous psychosomatic issues including migraines, insomnia, stress and obesity.
By implementing the LEED green building approach, you are minimizing these risks by optimizing an indoor space for better performance, creating a healthier environment for you and your team, whilst minimizing negative impact on the planet.
What does LEED certification mean?
Developed by the non-profit organisation named U.S. Green Building Council, LEED certification is a “green building” certification program for the real estate industry.
LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and it is an internationally recognized eco building certification which includes a unique rating system for the construction, design, maintenance and functionality of environmentally responsible buildings.
How does a LEED building make a difference?
Through different media outlets we hear news about the fragile state of our ecosystems on a daily basis. Real estate is a major contributor to the future health of our planet and so LEED identifies the key metrics that environmentally responsible buildings need to consider in order to promote the wellbeing of its users as well as that of the planet.
The goals of LEED certified buildings include:
Energy savings
Water efficiency
CO2 emissions reduction
Improved indoor environmental quality
Stewardship of natural resources and the sensitivity to their impacts
What is the purpose of LEED?
Improving the real estate industry’s impact on environmental and human health metrics is LEED’s mission. Healthy building certification gives real estate developers and building operators with a framework for practical and efficient building design, construction and maintenance solutions.
In conclusion, LEED’s main objective is providing a safe, sustainable and productive living or work environment.
Advantages and solutions
A common misconception around eco-friendly real estate is that it equates to additional CAPEX and OPEX costs for the building owner, as well as adding to a project’s delivery timeline.
In reality, LEED can be a long-term cost-saver when applied correctly and integrated into the development process, something known as Integrative Design, resulting in highly efficient commercial and residential buildings that are in a way ‘future-proofed’.
Many ESG property funds are now looking for such sustainable credentials when making real estate investments, another reason to build green.
How has the LEED rating system evolved over time?
Ever since it was introduced, LEED has been in a process of constant evolution to more accurately represent and implement the latest sustainable building techniques and technologies, as well as healthy building principles with a human or social focus.
Four different versions of the LEED rating system have been released over the years, right up to the current LEED V4.1 in use today.
Accredited Professionals (APs) and Green Associates (GAs) are required to stay up to date with the latest iterations of the system in order to ensure their work in the real estate sector is delivered in line with current benchmarks in green building excellence.
Green Building Certification levels
LEED ratings are classified into five different categories which in turn have a number of sub-categories used to reflect the specific genre of green building project in question, with the prerequisites:
Green Building Design & Construction
LEED for New Construction
LEED for Core & Shell
LEED for Schools
LEED for Retail: New Construction and Major Renovations
LEED for Healthcare
Green Interior Design & Construction
LEED for Commercial Interiors
LEED for Retail: Commercial Interiors
Green Building Operations & Maintenance
LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance
Green Neighborhood Development
LEED for Neighborhood Development
Green Home Design and Construction
LEED for Homes
The various LEED rating scales are:
Certified: 40-49 points
Silver: 50-59 points
Gold: 60-79 points
Platinum: 80 points or above
LEED certification process
After fulfilling the previously stated requirements, certification is admitted by the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI) which handles the third-party verification of a project’s concurrence with the LEED requirements.
LEED certification fees are applied during the process of registering the building and submitting the design and construction applications. The price of the fees can vary depending on the size of the project starting from around 2000 USD.
The entire application process is then handled through an online service which is filled with PDF forms that allow project teams to fill out credit forms and upload additional documentation.
Why is LEED certification important?
Even though we have previously stated the numerous benefits of environmental design, it’s crucial to mention that the biggest advantage of LEED is providing a sustainable framework for construction, design and maintenance of new and existing buildings.
We are great supporters of and professionals trained in the LEED certification process. Biofilico offers eco interior design services, green building consultancy and ESG advisory services for real estate development funds.
If you wish to discuss a certain type of certification for a real estate project, contact us here.
Interior Design Environment: The Role of Environmental Sustainability
Are you concerned about your home’s environmental impact or the levels of productivity and creativity in your office?
Maybe it’s time to consider a more eco-friendly interior design in real estate, with concepts such as energy and water efficiency, waste reduction, and recyclable materials implementation - not only for reduced environmental impact but for the positive impact on human health and wellbeing.
Biofilico designs for people, the planet, and your profit! Our actions address human health, environmental sustainability, and financial gain.
As the world becomes increasingly urbanized, our lifestyle conveniences and wishes are increased while access to nature and green spaces decreases. As a result, we have a fundamentally disconnected evolutionary flow, with many problems (mainly diseases) tightly connected to it.
In further text, you will find more information concerning the importance of environment and sustainability and its impact on our lives through interior design and the places we live in.
What is Environmental Sustainability?
When we talk about environmental sustainability, meaning to address all aspects of our lives - we need to include everything, from eco-homes, sourcing our supplies, renewable energy, and environmentally conscious communities to low-impact furniture and clothing.
But what is environmental sustainability?
The meaning of environmental sustainability has many definitions used by green groups, businesses, and even politicians and activists, but the concept and principles of sustainable development were first introduced in 1987 in the “Our Common Future” report, prepared for the World Commission on Environment and Development.
This includes sustainable design principles, which emphasize creating concepts and spaces that reduce environmental impact, use sustainable materials, and consider long-term environmental and socioeconomic development.
Significance of Environmental Sustainability
Environmental sustainability is paramount due to the detrimental impacts individuals can inflict on our surroundings. It necessitates collective care for the flora, fauna, air, and water bodies that constitute our planet’s ecosystem. Minimizing energy consumption through sustainable architecture and interior design practices is crucial for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and promoting energy efficiency.
Preservation of Biodiversity
Environmental sustainability safeguards the rich diversity of life forms and ecosystems, ensuring the continued existence of vital species and habitats.
Protection of Natural Resources
By prioritizing sustainability, we conserve essential resources like water, land, and energy, ensuring their availability for future generations and mitigating the risk of resource depletion. Using sustainable materials, such as furniture made from recycled sources like reclaimed wood and recycled products, plays a crucial role in conserving natural resources.
Mitigation of Climate Change
Environmental sustainability efforts are crucial in combatting climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, promoting renewable energy sources, and implementing carbon-neutral practices.
Promotion of Human Health
A sustainable environment fosters human health and well-being by providing clean air, water, and food, reducing exposure to pollutants, and minimizing the risk of environmental hazards. Sustainable design plays a crucial role in improving indoor air quality through factors like passive heating, cooling, ventilation design, and natural light.
Global Collaboration
Environmental sustainability initiatives occur on various scales, from local community projects to international agreements, highlighting the global commitment to preserving our planet for future generations.
How does Environmental Sustainability Affect Social Responsibility?
The relationship between people and spaces is based on psychological and physical parameters and greatly impacts improving life quality. Targeting social welfare and happiness through environmental sustainability is a measure that results in higher levels of employee creativity, motivation, and well-being.
The most important criterion for saving and healing the planet is the selection of materials used in building and decorating. Every material has its function, so materials used in hospitals and shopping malls should differ due to the sterilization needs. However, selecting materials with the maximum potential to reduce waste is crucial.
Creating durable and timeless spaces is also essential, as it promotes longevity and reduces the need for frequent design changes, aligning with social responsibility.
The embodied energy (energy needed to produce some material) is also important when choosing a sustainable material for a home or public space. Concrete, steel, and plastics are higher in embodied energy than some more natural elements like stone or timber.
Recycling potential is an important factor in the field of waste management. Moreover, the level of emission of toxic gases (in production and use) should be considered an important step to go for more traditional but highly sustainable techniques in construction
Decreasing the amount of global waste leads to the creation of new technology to generate electricity from the plantation
Interior environments are places where all human needs are exposed. They are the most intimate spaces where our physical and physical health is affected by many bad factors we have inflicted upon ourselves.
Environmental Sustainability in Business
Taking the initiative to create a more environmentally conscious company culture through eco-friendly policies is a bold move, even if it starts with eliminating plastic straws and paper to reduce plastic waste.
Developing a corporate environmental responsibility begins on the level of your workforce. It is crucial (especially for young) people to believe in the vision and practice of environmental sustainability, changing their habits in the office, for the mission of sustainability to be carried out accordingly.
Environmental Sustainability and Interior Design Elements
Interior design is a profession that is subject to the context of human needs and the many different levels of satisfaction. The interior space is made to satisfy the needs of security, survival, and achieving higher self-esteem
Recent studies have shown the need for environmental health and sustainability within our living spaces and the obligation for the niche to be included and survive. This is why the practice of interior design elements is considered a context of sustainability. Using natural light in interior design is crucial for improving energy efficiency and reducing dependence on artificial lighting. Larger windows, skylights, and light color schemes can help maximize natural light in design projects.
The environmental development and sustainability principles recognized the links between inequality, poverty, and environmental degradation. Thus, the elements of their improvement were needed to support communities and find a way forward for a fairer world with less environmental damage.
So, the environmental development and sustainability concept met the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to live in a better world.
Environmental sustainability in interior design refers to all the systems and materials integrated into one whole purpose (for example, into healthy building spaces for inhabitation), minimizing negative impacts on the environment and occupants while maximizing the positive health, economic, and social life cycle.
Environmental Sustainability in Interior Design and the Planet
Environmental development and sustainability issues include concerns about whether environmental resources will be protected and maintained for future generations. Limiting consumption of nonrenewable resources, naturally shifting to renewable resources, and avoiding excess pollution damage our health and the earth’s atmosphere.
Sustainable interior design plays a crucial role by creating eco-friendly and environmentally conscious spaces, using low-impact materials, reducing waste, and considering long-term environmental and economic impacts.
The biggest problem now is making an economic decision based on the insight of the long-term consequences and making integrational decisions to target economic and social welfare.
Long-term Health of Ecosystems
Principles of sustainable development protect the long-term productivity and health of the resources that will be used in the future, meeting the economic and social needs.
Making decisions to protect food supplies, farmlands and fishing stocks, species diversity, and ecological structure, we ensure the health of our future generations and the loam of our lands.
Prevention of man-made global warming
Water shortages, extreme weather events, excess temperature, and all the other problems have been predicted for future generations to face because of the deterioration and usage of harmful materials and substances - factors that could make a living in some parts of the world very difficult, if not impossible.
Intergenerational decision making
When making large economic decisions, we should focus on the implications for the future, not just for the present moment. For example, using coal as energy gives a short-term benefit of cheapness, but the pollution weight is immense for future generations.
Renewable resources
Diversifying energy sources from nonrenewable into renewable and sustainable ones that, again, do not rely on non-renewable resources is one of the main concerns that should be met in the future. For example, the most popular solutions are solar and wind power-generating windmills, panels, and skylights.
The willingness to create sustainable environments should be primarily met and fulfilled within workplaces and private home interiors. Improving energy efficiency in interior design is crucial, as it reduces energy consumption related to heating, lighting, and appliances. Interior designers have an essential tool to lead sustainable environments and create a sustainability consciousness.
Interior design elements are major tools in creating long-term environmental sustainability, with elements of natural resources, sustainable fabrication, manufacturing, and installation, all the way up to sustainable use, reuse, recycling, and final disposal
Buildings and Wellbeing: Architecture for Health - Wellness Design Consultants
To be truly capable of enhancing human well-being, building design needs to change its approach towards optimising crucial parameters such as temperature and humidity, in a holistic way that supports human behaviour and health, both mental and physical. This includes adopting healthy building practices that improve indoor air quality and environmental design.
Based on the scientifically established facts, the purpose of this article is to outline the definition of health and wellness through healthy architecture, and to determine potential implications and opportunities for housing design, closely associated with, for example, poor indoor environment and air quality.
Health improving concept in architecture
The design and the making of our built environment and homes affect our health and well-being by making long-term implications on the quality of life.
Improving health, wealth and happiness is influential in revealing suitable behaviour - strongly influenced by the context of where we spend our time, sleep or grow and eat our food.
It has been pointed out that people can make better decisions automatically, non-coercively and more simply, through changing their choices in health and wellbeing architecture. The impact that architecture has on health is evident: it’s easier to make better decisions in a more healthy environment and constrain behaviours by making certain actions more difficult. This includes supporting the emotional wellbeing of occupants, which is crucial for overall mental health.
The importance of sustainability in architecture for indoor air quality and health
Sustainability integrates environmental concerns with creative ways to build interiors of materials non-harmful to the environment, promoting a sustainable built environment.
All the concerns based on energy efficiency, waste reduction, water supplies, the assessment of materials and recycling, the impact of transport on greenhouse gas emissions, green purchasing policies and more are dealt with in the basic sustainability questions, all which you can be provided with throw explanations from Biofilico.
We should treat all buildings as critical environments and Biofilico knows how to make possible their correcting. First of all, a holistic management solution is required to create healthy architecture and living environments for all tenants - with healthy air, water and materials.
Establishing controlled foundation for a comprehensive solution
Establishing an environment for health architecture with ventilation and controlled humidity within rooms is very important for indoor air quality and increasing amounts of particles of organic and non-organic compounds, humidity and CO2.
Comprehensive and healthy air solutions for filtration, UV technologies, cleaning protocols, humidity density and facility controlling strategies should work together for a more holistic approach and intelligent solutions. The main innovations concerning materials are greater use of wood, concrete and composites, that achieve a high level of thermal efficiency and solar energy glazing.
Architecture for health and wellness improvement
As we have pointed out, when it comes to wellness, establishing an environment for health architecture is a crucial factor and a bedrock for any further words about health. It’s easy to spot where the problem actually lies.
Did you ever feel dull or unusually tired after a meeting or simply after work? That’s because most offices and conference rooms do not provide enough fresh air, mostly because of the windows lacking. Prolonged exposure to such environments can cause tiredness, pain, and high blood pressure.
When that door opens, it literally feels like the wind breathes life back into the room. But, unexisting windows and wind flow actually has a much worse impact on our body than we can see or feel.
All the indoor spaces - where we work, teach and learn, play, eat, and even heal, have an outsized negative impact on our performance and well-being. Badly implemented architectural ideas affect our creativity, focus, and problem-solving ability, making us sick and putting in jeopardy our long-term future, dragging down profits in the process.
Long term benefits of healthy architecture
Biofilico’s goal is to improve the lives of all people, in all of the buildings of the future, everywhere and every day. By counselling and examining situations nowadays, we can discover how to optimize buildings for health using factors in the built environment that influence human health, wellbeing and productivity.
Poorly constructed buildings, bad waste materials, and unhealthy building materials lead to buildings affecting human health, from cognitive performance to the wide range of different diseases.
Whether people are healthy or not, is highly determined by the environment they live in. To a large extent, factors like where we live and the state of the environment, have considerable impacts on health - equally as genetics, income, education, our relationships with friends and family.
Cognitive benefits of wellbeing buildings
Adjusted ventilation rates, carbon dioxide levels, and the quantity of airborne VOCs (chemical compounds emitted by common objects such as desk chairs and whiteboards) have a huge impact on cognitive functioning and assessments like crisis response, decision making, and strategy.
Workers in green certified buildings, high-performing buildings show as much as 26 percent better cognitive functioning, have an increment in sleep and rest scores - all because of better lighting and optimal thermal conditions approved by LEED certification.
Architecture for physical and mental wellbeing - why design wellness oriented buildings
Buildings designed to make us happier and healthier can be costly. There is now a huge incentive for companies to invest in healthy architecture and wellness buildings, encouraging choice, movement and relaxation, controlling temperature, noise levels and air quality, adding breakout areas, ergonomic furniture and plants.
Open spaces within healthy architecture places encourage collaboration and increase understanding of the variety of employees’ personality types, such as introverts and extroverts. Housing is also another huge opportunity for wellbeing, mental wellbeing, and design.
The ascendance of architecture and health in the built environment
Architecture is an important contributor to mental and physical wellness in its own right. The relationship between architecture and health has historically received little attention, but recent work has changed this and established a more holistic awareness of the role of architecture in physical and mental health and physical and mental wellbeing.
Nature-based solutions are increasingly being integrated into architectural designs to harmonize the natural and built environments.
The science of wellness inside buildings is a relatively new area of inquiry, but architectural developments related to wellness provide a critical mass of evidence that led to the definition of key behaviours related to improved or decreased residence conditions. The most collected evidence supporting the assertion of behaviours resulted in an improvement in architecture and health are:
Connecting people - the quantity and quality of social connections and interactions with familiar people and strangers.
Keeping them active - demonstrates that physical activity reduces symptoms of mental and physical illnesses.
Being mindful - taking notice, paying attention and being aware of thoughts and feelings is a behaviour that reduces symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression.
The International Well Building Institute emphasizes the importance of creating healthy buildings that support the physical health and emotional wellbeing of their users.
Synthesizing scientific information, certification systems, new technologies, real estate trends and environmental changes into a cohesive strategy for your business, Biofilico creates unique places and interiors where people are most able to prosper and live long and happy lives.
What are sustainable office buildings?
Sustainable office buildings or even eco friendly office buildings are made to contain office spaces demand a great deal of investment, futuristic viewpoint and long term willingness to improve health. This strategic alliance is formed between green interior experts, teams of several different architectural niches and urban designers - all aligned to create a better working environment that can benefit to all its users.
Our purpose is not to collide with architecture or interfere in the process of construction, but we are inclined to bring nature indoors, integrating biophilia (the love and need for nature) into 21st-century urban interior design and creating sustainable office buildings and spaces.
How do we succeed in making eco friendly office buildings?
By incorporating the everlasting principles of nature-derived materials, healthy surroundings that improve mood, with a sustainable way of reusing materials - we are given all the key factors needed for a good and sustainable office building to grow.
Biophilic design and vernacular architecture symbiosis
Vernacular architecture is a completely autonomous field of study, made due to the present socio-cultural context focused on the bad influence of the industrialization and globalization, and the use of suitable and natural materials from the local environment.
This concept assumes a building activity without a project and without technical representation, but still establishing a perfectly integrated empirical knowledge based on local tradition.
Chalets made of bamboo in South-East Asia or evolved examples of Scandinavian or alpine vernacular architecture that reflect the characteristics of the local environment, climate, culture, natural materials, technology are the best examples of sustainable buildings at the moment.
The embodiment of sustainability
These principles developed for centuries in different communities can be the future reflections of how sustainable office buildings should look like and what are the principles of their constructions.
Biophilic principles are also evident in vernacular architecture, where buildings are constructed in a way that reflects the landscape around them. This particular type of architecture combined with biophilic interior design allows people to form bonds with the natural world around them in a more profound way.
These two have to be in some form of symbiosis to work out the problem called sustainable office buildings primarily, and later on - the apartment building and houses.
Non-toxic materials for green office buildings
Transforming your office building into a more sustainable office building of a harmonious collection of natural elements will boost your mood, productivity and sense of wellbeing.
To make a sustainable office building we need to use sustainable, earth-friendly materials such as wood, bamboo, cork, marble, granite, limestone, porcelain, as well as natural patterns, colours, textures and finishes, also made in a sustainable process and through the use of renewable energy.
You can include natural lumber, clay, straw and mortar - all-natural materials that do not contain glues, dye coatings or processing chemicals that can release toxic gases.
A lot of business spaces claim to have sustainable office buildings but this easy labelling can be sometimes questionable when it comes to environmental friendliness.
How can you distinguish a genuinely sustainable office building?
1. Sustainable floorings and elevations give impeccable acoustics
Sustainability in office buildings comes from unique and natural materials.
Sustainable flooring materials should be also produced from sustainable materials and by a sustainable process that reduces demands on ecosystems during its life-cycle. This includes harvest, production, implementation and later disposal in the eco friendly office buildings.
Bamboo flooring eco friendly office buildings are not wood but is very easily found and obtained and is harvested under cultivated conditions. Cork is an important renewable cash crop harvested from Mediterranean cork oak trees.
Salvaged wood planks make great material for floors, lending them an antique charm and are often used to replace large wood planks. Meanwhile, some places in sustainable office buildings can be made of recycled rubber - fabricated from recycled rubber products, such as old tires. Rubber flooring tiles or rubber sheet flooring can be a great choice for recreation or workshop spaces.
What does FSC wood plants mean?
When you buy flooring products for your sustainable office buildings that are labelled as FSC certified, you can be assured that it has been harvested with the best interests of both forests and citizens in mind.
2. Walls and ceilings made for sustainable office buildings
Drywall panels, wood framing and salvage parts are made with as much almost 80 per cent recycled materials and can be a greater option for wall or ceilings.
Leaving these parts of your sustainable office building in concrete look will also add to the ecologically conscious environment, and concrete is also very attractive and interesting contemporary material that gives that industrial, minimal look to office buildings.
A variety of countertop materials and wall and floor tiles are available that make use of pulverized and recycled glass and wallpapers can be grasscloth based.
What about the roofing in a green office building?
Recycled metal for roofing panels made from recycled aluminium, steel, copper, or alloys that combine different metals, or even stone roofing that are chemical-free can be a great choice for a green roofs solution on green office buildings.
Sustainable office buildings with good lighting and clean air
For sustainability in office buildings, natural light is the essential building block of a healthy, green indoor. Circadian lighting systems follows the body’s natural rhythm with amber tones early and late to avoid sleep disruption, while blue-white tones in the middle of the day can help improve productivity, especially when combined with individual task lights on office desks for example.
Wellness lighting is an instrument in extracting some of the most potent physical wellbeing benefits of biophilic design.
Water and air purifying systems
The biophilic design also incorporates nature-based components such as fresh or purified air in sustainable office buildings, combined with the healing powers of herbal aromatherapy, soothing nature sounds, and more - to transform any workspace into a sustainable office building where people like to spend their time in.
Putting air-purifying plants we improve CO2 levels, as fresh and clean air is one of the first things we notice when in nature - and one of the first things that make as leave someplace if we get the sensation of too much heat or asphyxiating air.
Water is also an important element that we subconsciously associate with nature, wellbeing and sustainability in office buildings. Keep lungs and bowels happy and healthy by clean deploying air and water, preferably one with a HEPA filter. This helps restore air and water supplies to its natural state by removing pollutants.
Plants as a source of healthy air in a sustainable office building
Plants are instrumental for harnessing the benefits of nature in biophilic design, which is why integrating plants into interior spaces of sustainable office buildings is a fundamental tenet of interior design.
Floral designers can create artworks and sculptures in both natural and, when appropriate, artificial plants for long-term installations. Natural wall murals showing scenes of prospect and refuge are known to have stress-reducing properties; nature-inspired wallpapers as an abstract alternative well suited to homes and offices.
The decision about using sustainable materials for flooring, ceiling and other amenities in the making of sustainable office buildings has become a worldly popular idea and the number of sustainable office building is constantly growing.
Biophilic Design for People, Planet and Profit
As the world becomes increasingly urbanized, lifestyle convenience and stimuli typically increase while access to nature and green spaces decrease.
This represents a fundamental disconnect with our evolutionary history; biophilic design offers a time-proven solution to this contemporary challenge.
We define biophilia as the human love of or need for a close connection with nature and other forms of life.
When applied to modern lifestyles, ‘biophilic living’ is less about a return to hunter-gatherer times and is more to do with the respectful (re)integration of nature into our homes, offices, gyms, diets and beyond.
The last two centuries have seen a massive process of urbanization as entire populations transition from low density natural environments to heavily built metropolises with limited access to greenery, open spaces, and wildlife.
Simply put, biophilia and biophilic design are a modern response to that disconnect from nature.
It is an attempt to reunite indoor and outdoor worlds through the sensitive use of natural materials, shapes, breezes, colors, scents, and sounds in urban architecture and interiors.
THE TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE
The Triple Bottom Line (TBL) is a way of breaking down a business model by evaluating it from three different angles: human health, environmental sustainability, and financial gain - People, Planet, and Profit.
People: Measures social responsibility, what is a business doing to further the health and wellbeing of its customers, or users, and the community around it
Planet: Measures environmental impact, how is a business protecting or positively influencing the earth
Profit: Measures what is gained, and there needs to be financial gain in order for the business to survive and continue to do good for People and Planet
PEOPLE: SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Only more recently has there been emphasis placed on People in terms of our built environment.
Current thinking however posits that buildings and interiors should not only be green but also healthy, actively contributing to the mental and physical wellness of its users, be they residents, office workers, patients or students
Biophilic design falls in line with this view, as people who spend time in biophilic spaces experience a plethora of benefits that extend to both physical and mental health.
Here are a few noteworthy examples:
A BIOPHILIC HOSPITAL EXPERIMENT
A 1993 study by Dr. Roger Ulrich focused on biophilic design applied to various settings, one of which was a windowless, hospital emergency room.
They traded blank walls and artificial furnishings for a design that aimed to connect people with nature through potted plants, furnishings made from natural materials, and a colorful wall mural of plants and animals in a Savannah-like setting.
The result? A significant decrease in stress and aggressive behavior among patients, as well as improved recovery speeds of 8.5% compared with those facing brick walls. Multiply that small gain out over the entire healthcare system though, and the cost savings are considerable.
Not only did the results of this study give us a glimpse of the power of a connection with nature, it showed that the positive impact can also be present when nature is indirect and merely representational.
This simple biophilic design element is a potent way to improve the hospital experience—biophilic design doesn’t have to be difficult to be powerful.
Hero offices Switzerland, Biofilico consultancy
A HEALTHY WORKPLACE
Hard evidence for the power of biophilic design in the workplace comes from a recent study undertaken by Professor of Organizational Psychology and Health Sir Cary Cooper entitled ‘Biophilic Design in the Workplace’ that surveyed a sample of 3600 office workers across Europe and the Middle-East.
The results showed that office environments incorporating natural elements such as internal green spaces, natural light and an abundance of plants ensure higher levels of employee creativity, motivation, and wellbeing.
RECHARGE ROOMS
In an era filled with high-stress jobs and tech fatigue, recharge rooms are a growing trend in workplace wellness programs. Whether presented as somewhere for stretching and yoga, a quiet room for focused bursts of concentration and productivity, as a chill-out meditation space or even a games area, recharge rooms are somewhere for workers to — you guessed it—recharge their batteries during the workday.
This can help lead to less stress, better productivity, more creativity, as well as better physical and mental health.
For more on Biofilico’s healthy office project for HERO Switzerland see this page.
PLANET: ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
FITWEL, standing for Facility Innovations Toward Wellness Environment Leadership, was launched in March 2017 and has currently impacted over 250,000 building occupants with over 380 projects around the world.
They take a data-driven approach with a database of over 3000 academic studies backing up their efforts to inspire healthier workplaces and residential communities specifically.
Certification systems such as the US Green Building Council’s LEED have given architects and interior designers a clear structure and format to follow, as well as increasingly prestigious ratings that add tangible value for building owners (Profit) and their occupants (People) whilst reducing the impact of buildings on the environment
Hero offices Switzerland, recharge room by Biofilico
Buildings and interiors that respect the planet, doing no harm to the environment and in some cases even giving back, are often described with terminology such as green buildings or sustainable buildings.
This approach—one that priorities concerns for nature—is literally built into the biophilic design value system. We love what nature can do for us, so we respect and protect her in return, it's a symbiotic relationship.
One key insight here is that the materials chosen for an interior space will not only influence the final ambiance but also impact the users’ health and wellness, largely by avoiding materials that off-gas harmful toxins and Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs).
Opting for materials that are natural and sustainable will help ensure that both a room’s users and the planet stay healthy. Good materials to consider in this sense include FSC wood, bamboo, linen, cork, and ceramic.
Using organic material can lessen the presence of harmful chemicals that are regularly found in building materials and furniture—think benzene, formaldehyde, and trichloroethylene.
PROFIT: RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS
Although organic design stretches back as far as the 30s, sustainable, eco-friendly buildings, and biophilic design in particular are concepts that have been introduced into mainstream design only over the past 20 years or so.
As we have argued above however, the inspiration is simply to seek a more evolutionary concordant relationship with nature whilst living a 21st century existence.
OUTSIDE-THE-BOX GAINS: EMPLOYEE RETENTION
We’re seeing more and more biophilic design used by large companies dealing in billions of dollars of annual revenues and tens of thousands of highly qualified, highly sought-after knowledge workers, Why?
Employee satisfaction and office productivity are crucial in maintaining a competitive edge. Yes, these companies are intent on using responsible architecture and renewable energy sources but they are also exploiting the latest research that explores the intersection between neuroscience and biology.
Other examples of ‘profit’ derived from biophilic design include:
Improved productivity & creativity for staff in the workplace
Higher prices on real estate sales and hotel rooms with a view of nature
Opportunity to improve brand image through the office environment
Conclusion
While it may be instinct to devote your focus purely to profits, turning some attention toward environmental efforts and social consciousness holds an arsenal of benefits—which often includes increasing profits.
Biophilic design is a way to tap into the power of not only nature, but of the 3 P’s: People, Planet, and Profit. And in time you will find that they often overlap and feed each other to cultivate a happy, healthy, and thriving business in today’s society.
Active design - definition and perspective
The key concepts of active design explained - healthy placemaking, physical activity, contact with nature & workplace wellness.
The concept of ‘active design’ comes up a lot in contemporary debate around how to design interiors, buildings and communities that prioritise human health and wellbeing, and therefore - how to get healthy by active design.
Active design strategies exist to aid a healthy lifestyle and can include dedicated bicycle pathways, bike sharing schemes, and micro-parks designed to reduce air pollution levels.
Here is a short introduction to this innovative new approach that combines elements of fitness, design and architecture in one.
Active design definition and why do we need it?
Unless you have been living under a duvet for the last decade you’ll have heard mention of the lifestyle disease epidemic affecting the western world.
Physical inactivity, poor diet and smoking are one side of the coin while obesity, Type 2 diabetes and chronic heart disease the other.
Together they are putting unprecedented pressure on state healthcare systems that are already close to buckling with limited resources.
As governments have sought for ways to improve the situation, active design has become a rallying cry for health conscious city planners, architects and interior designers aiming to prevent ‘rather’ than ‘cure’.
Active design definition
As a set of building and planning principles, active design exists to aid healthy lifestyle - the principles of active design exist to promote physical activity, by immersing them into everyday activities.
Healthy placemaking through active building design
Examples of creating a healthy community or healthy city include dedicated bicycle pathways and bike sharing schemes to reduce car use and lower pollution levels while encouraging physical activity.
The difference between passive and active design can be clearly seen in strategic use of landscaping that helps create attractive walkways that encourage walking and interaction outdoors - New York’s now legendary Highline being one obvious example, unlike passive design that is mainly focused on building orientation in a way that takes advantage of the climate the most.
Active design building encourages physical activity
One of the significant benefits of active designs is that it encourages physical activity.
Stairwell prompts in office and residential buildings can make the difference between using an elevator 20 times per day to go from ground to first floor vs burning an additional 200 total calories taking the stairs.
Something as simple as a notice adjacent to a stairwell entrance can be enough to encourage greater stair use, such prompts need to be easily visible and graphically engaging.
Incorporating showers, changing rooms, lockers and bike racks in office buildings for workers also encourages cycling to work as well as lunchtime jogs or workouts.
Nature contact thanks to active building design
Active building design mainly refers to public landscaping, city centre micro-parks designed to reduce air pollution levels and other opportunities to connect with nature in an urban environment have all been shown to help reduce anxiety, promote a sense of vitality and restore nature-connectedness for improved mental wellbeing even in relatively short periods of time.
A series of micro-parks in London UK were designed to offer small doses of nature in a densely urban context surrounded by office high-rises, but also to encourage active sustainable design in natural surroundings.
How did we get here?
In the last half-century, the nature of work has fundamentally shifted. No longer are the majority of people toiling in fields, or doing manual labour in factories, the new normal is to be in an office all day, at a desk, in front of a screen, with or without a natural light source nearby.
From a meta history perspective, this is a long way from an evolutionary correct norm that our bodies were built for. ‘Active design’ is a way to incorporate activity prompts and hacks into the built environment as a way to combat the risk of endless hours of sitting.
Active design & ‘the sitting problem
A ‘nature knows best’ health philosophy gives a clear set of guidelines when addressing lifestyle issues such as whether sitting is truly the new smoking, as the media have dubbed it.
Here we combine evolution-based thinking with active design principles to explore the topic of 21st century sedentary living.
Less physical activity at work
Physical activity, once so intimately connected with our daily lives going all the way back to hunter gatherer times, is no longer a fundamental part of work for many of us, let alone home life, which is something the rise of active design is about to change.
One recent study shows that this equates to a reduction in calorie consumption of around 100 calories / day in the US and can therefore be linked to a ‘significant portion’ of the increase in mean body mass across the US population in the past 50 years. In other words, the US population is getting more obese because it spends less time moving.
Physical inactivity at home
The dominance of televisions and computers during free time at home is another contributing factor to the total amount of time the average person spends sitting down, not expending any energy each day.
Overall this equates to a massive problem of physical inactivity in both junior and adult populations in the western world and that, put simply, is bad news for obesity levels, diabetes and heart disease.
Lower back pain in office workers
Prolonged periods of sitting have a direct impact on hip mobility while also being a major cause of lower back pain, which is why active design perspective has introduced sit- stand desks in offices, to help with the pain. Even sitting for shorter stretches of time is an improvement, which is where ‘active design’ tactics that encourage small movement snacks during the day can provide a solution.
Sit-stand desks in healthy offices - products of active design
Sit-stand desks are the real example of what active design perspective can do for your health, especially in the workplace. Products such as the Human Scale desk converter help encourage a combination of sitting and standing at work, giving the desk owner the option to adjust desk height at will throughout the day.
Most people will find the afternoons tiring after a full morning on their feet, so a mobility ball under the desk can help, as can the option to move elsewhere in the office to change position for a while. It is all about mixing things up according to the type of work taking place.
A Cochrane review of existing research showed that the main benefit of investing in one of these desks, or an extension for an existing desk, is to reduce the total amount of time an office worker spends sitting down during their work day as well as to reduce the number of sitting bouts over 30 minutes in duration.
Our own anecdotal evidence of using them for the past six years or so is that they make a massive difference for lower back pain sufferers, quite literally removing the issue from the equation for as long as one can stay off the chair. Mix that with a program of core strength and mobility exercises and it is a winning formula. We’ve tried it, changed our habits and will never go back!
Lifestyle exercise at work - more active design applications
Lifestyle exercise is also part of active design perspective, and it encourages office workers to integrate short periods of low to moderate activity into their day, the idea being to cumulatively piece together a meaningful amount of movement through a combination of trips to the water cooler, up and down stairs, for a walk around the block, and so on over the course of the day. Think of the often quoted “10,000 steps” concept.
Signage prompts in office active design
Simple signage prompts are a seemingly obvious yet remarkably effective way of encouraging office workers to stay active, use the stairs and say no to the elevator, assuming a reasonable number of floors are required!
We hope that by learning more active design, you’ll manage to garner a clearer insight and wish to incorporate it into your lifestyle or your workplace. Active design concepts have numerous positive effects not just on your body, but your overall health, not to mention the productivity and focus felt positive effects.
To Conclude
Active Design Strategies to Promote Physical Activity and Wellness
In today's sedentary world, active design has become increasingly relevant in promoting physical activity and healthy lifestyles.
Active design strategies aim to integrate fitness and wellness into the built environment, including buildings, interiors, and communities.
By incorporating active design principles such as bike paths, stair prompts, and sit-stand desks, designers and architects can encourage physical activity and combat the risk of lifestyle diseases such as obesity, Type 2 diabetes, and chronic heart disease.
By promoting more active and healthier lifestyles, active design is an essential step towards improving public health and well-being.
The Importance of Active Design in All Design Projects
Active design is not limited to fitness and wellness-oriented projects, but should be considered in all design projects. It's important for designers and architects to recognize the impact that the built environment has on human health and well-being.
Incorporating active decoration and design principles such as natural light, ventilation, and access to green spaces can improve mental and physical health, productivity, and overall well-being.
As we continue to face challenges with sedentary lifestyles and lifestyle diseases, active design is a vital aspect of modern design practices, and should be a fundamental consideration in all projects.
If you would like to know more about how we can help you design a healthier, more active office, contact us via email on design @biofilico.com.
Organic Form Interior Design: Biofilico Wellness Interiors
Introduction to organic architecture and its connections with the more recent biophilic design trend based on biophilia and connecting with nature.
Selecting an interior design style for a home, office or gym can be an exhausting and time-consuming process.
Unlike many other options, organic design quite simply translates the aesthetics of nature and combines it with the latest in wellness design strategies to deliver an interior style that is cohesive and enveloping. Organic design emphasizes the use of curved lines and round shapes, adding flow, movement, and balance to interiors.
This combination of nature, wellness and science delivers a sense of balance, both energizing and restorative. Generally more rounded shapes evoke a feeling of calm and relaxation, softening the environment and creating a sanctuary for de-stressing.
Organic forms contribute to a cohesive and enveloping interior style, reflecting the post-pandemic societal realignment of values towards comfort, wellbeing, and nature.
Eco-friendly design with natural materials
Sustainable and eco-friendly buildings are a concept that has been introduced into mainstream design over the past 20 years but the historical movement of its predecessor, organic design, started long before. Natural elements have been a part of eco-friendly design for decades, emphasizing the connection between nature and built environments.
With organic architecture and organic design stretching back as far as the 30’s there is a rich history of architects and designers deploying this philosophy in a poignant way, long before talk of biophilia and biophilic design. Indeed the creations birthed from this branch of design went on to heavily influence the trajectory of the design sector as a whole. Organic design incorporates organic shapes to create a harmonious and sustainable environment, using elements inspired by nature to add flow, movement, and balance to interiors.
Frank Lloyd Wright: The Biophilia Pioneer
Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959) was an American architect, interior designer, writer, and educator that not only coined the term organic architecture but also believed in and abided by the concept. Wright's philosophy emphasized the use of natural forms in his designs, incorporating organic shapes to promote harmony between man-made elements and the natural world. After a full career that involved designing over 1,000 structures—532 of which were completed—he published “The New Architecture: Principles”, an essay that laid out nine principles of architecture reflecting his philosophy of organic architecture and design.
What is organic design architecture & organic forms in interiors?
Organic architecture is best described as harmonizing the man-made world with nature. Or more abstractly put, “form follows function”, a statement coined by Wright’s mentor and fellow architect, Louis Sullivan.
A structure built using the principles of organic architecture, and organic design style as a whole, can be said to display the following characteristics:
Closely resembles nature, blending in and utilizing its natural surroundings
Incorporating organic shapes into home interiors can create a sense of softness and movement
Creates things from the inside out, mirroring natural shapes found in the environment
Uses materials and shapes found in the natural world
The derivative term, organic design, extends the philosophy of the architecture of the same name to smaller projects like furniture, accessories, and art.
Biophilic building case study: Wright's Fallingwater (1935)
Use of natural materials, skylights, and irregular forms can all be seen in the construction of the Viipuri Library, all stylistically typical of the architect Alvar Aalto. The inclusion of natural light is crucial in creating a peaceful and nurturing workspace. It is this organic design interior approach used in Aalto’s architecture, furniture, textiles, glassware, sculptures and paintings that are attributed to his success as a highly recognized, modern architect and designer in the 1930’s. Notice too how this wave-like form repeats itself in the glorious Aalto-designed vase that proudly sits on our showroom table.
Specifically designed for the Organic Design in Home Furnishings competition organized by the Museum of Modern Art, the organic chair was revolutionary. Up until this point, comfortable chairs were constructed with expensive springs and heavy bolsters of upholstery padding. The lightweight, molded plywood seat was a game changer.
After the competition the developers, Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen, discovered that the technology to mass-produce molded plywood chairs didn’t exist, so not many were produced. However, this did pave the way for a chair that Charles would go on to create with his wife, Ray Eames. An iconic chair known as the Eames Lounge Chair, which also incorporates geometric shapes to promote certain attitudes and behaviors in its design.
The Eames Organic Chair (1941)
Aesthetics inspired by natural elements
This unique approach, a balance between scientific research and inspiration from nature, is both form and function rolled into one. Soft organic shapes add flow, movement, and balance to spaces, enhancing the overall aesthetic. Rounded corners in furniture contribute to a calming and relaxing effect. Soft smooth forms evoke a feeling of calm and relaxation, resembling nature and contributing to a sense of wellbeing. For more information on how Biofilico’s designers can help you create a biophilic, organic interior space with a view to improved connections to nature, simply email us
Bio Building: Biophilic Buildings - The Eco-Friendly Concept of the Future — Biofilico Wellness Interiors
The concept of sustainable, eco-friendly, green, and now - biophilic buildings has been around for the past 20 years, helped along by organizations such as the Green Building Council that have dutifully guided developers, architects and corporations with their star certification system and LEED recognition.
The concept of biophilic architecture revolves around the principles associated with human healthcare, aiming to reconnect us with nature again. Biophilic buildings can also improve the general landscape, tipping the scale towards “greener”, more natural scenery, that ultimately benefit every part of our being. Constructing buildings using bio-based materials, such as timber, straw, and clay, offers sustainable and environmentally friendly alternatives to petrochemical and mineral-based materials, further enhancing the eco-friendly nature of these structures.
Sustainability movement with suitable rating systems for sustainable construction
Born of the massive recent upswing in urbanization and the resulting high-density cities that then put added strain on our planet, the green, biophilic building movement within the construction industry pushes an earth-friendly agenda onto our built environment by emphasizing sustainable practices and materials.
With over 92,000 projects using LEED in over 165 countries around the world and more than 2.2 million sq ft of built environment certified every single day, this is by far the most prominent rating system out there today.
LEED’s key tenets include energy, water, waste, location & transportation, sustainability of a site’s location and indoor environmental quality.
Moving beyond this green, eco philosophy though, more recently we have seen two concurrent trends that take the sustainability movement in a new direction.
Biophilic buildings & biophilic design in architecture using bio based materials
Like we said, there are a few trends that are currently directing the sustainability movement, including the use of bio based materials.
Firstly there is biophilic, nature-inspired design that adopts a similarly planet-oriented mindset yet zeroes in on how organic and evolution-friendly design principles can have a positive psychological and physiological health impact on humans. Plant based materials, such as timber, straw, reed, hemp, and engineered timber, play a crucial role in this by offering practical and sustainable options for construction. Engineered timber, in particular, stands out for its structural properties and sustainability, making it a key component in bio-based building technologies.
This planet + people mindset instantly gives biophilic design in architecture a more commercial edge, cutting through the externally oriented benefits of doing no harm to the planet with a more human-centric view of the built environment while also opening the door to overtly aesthetic choices that prioritize natural beauty.
When picturing or creating biophilic buildings in your mind - think vertical garden walls; air purifying plants; circadian lighting that follows the body’s daily rhythm; natural colors, patterns, textures and materials, all of which are designed to bring the outside world in, re-uniting city and countryside to create uplifting, restorative green spaces as closely aligned with our deep past as feasibly possible.
A holistic standard that advocates a healthy interrelationship with nature
Living Future is a holistic standard that has so far logged over 330 projects and 14.1 million square feet of built environment since 2008. Key concepts that it addresses include:
Place: restoring a healthy interrelationship with nature by maximizing the use of natural resources;
Water: creating developments that operate within the water balance of a given place and climate;
Energy: relying solely on current solar income;
Health + Happiness: creating environments that optimize physical and psychological health and wellbeing;
Materials: endorsing products that are safe for all species through time, including plant-based insulation materials like hemp and wood, which offer benefits such as moisture regulation and sustainability;
Equity: supporting a just, equitable world;
Beauty: celebrating design that uplifts the human spirit.
Introducing key proponents of human oriented buildings
The final segment, after eco/green/sustainable and bio/natural/organic comprises explicitly human or people-oriented buildings designed for human health, wellness and fitness, whilst also doing no harm to the planet through sustainable construction. Sustainable materials, such as timber, straw, hemp, and cork, offer numerous benefits in human-oriented building design, including reducing environmental impact, improving indoor air quality, and promoting resource efficiency. The use of local materials in bio-architectural residences further enhances sustainability by reducing transportation emissions and supporting local economies.
Key proponents of this approach are the WELL Building Standard and the US government-backed Centre For Active Design FITWEL standard.
WELL standard - environmentally oriented standard addressing global carbon emissions
WELL focuses on best practices when it comes to biophilic design in architecture and construction, backed by evidence-based medical and scientific research. To date, it has over 700 projects under its belt in 32 countries equating to 139 million sq ft of built environment. The standard covers eight key categories.
An evolution of green building standards such as LEED, the increasingly popular WELL Building Standard from Delos identifies 100 performance metrics, design strategies and policies that can be implemented across a building to have a positive impact on the health and wellness of its occupants, and transform it into something that can be described as a biophilic building. By incorporating bio-based materials, WELL also aims to improve indoor air quality, reducing the presence of harmful chemicals and VOCs, thus creating a healthier environment for the occupants.
WELL is complementary to other, more environmentally-oriented standards and in many instances directly overlaps as a nature-first approach is also inherently healthy for humans; the emphasis however is simply skewed towards the occupants rather than the environment. By using such materials, including plant-based and biocompatible options like plant fibers, timber, and straw, WELL promotes sustainable cultivation practices that integrate with forestry, agriculture, and conservation. The standard is happy to roam far and wide, from homes to offices, healthcare facilities, schools and restaurants.
FITWELL standard with a heavy data approach for indoor air quality
FITWEL, standing for Facility Innovations Toward Wellness Environment Leadership, was launched in March 2017 and has currently impacted over 250,000 building occupants with over 380 projects around the world. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are a significant concern in indoor air quality, and reducing VOCs through the use of green building materials can create a healthier environment for building occupants. They too take a heavily data-focused approach with a database of over 3000 academic studies backing up their efforts to inspire healthier workplaces and residential communities specifically.
Biophilic architecture concept
Biophilic buildings are supposed to represent something more other than sheer connection with nature. Biophilic design in architecture is here to bring necessary transformation in the field that is responsible for the greatest negative environmental impact, including reducing carbon emissions.
If you wish to know more about healthy building or green building certifications, please email us here.