Photo Credit: Jeffrey Totaro
The human condition is inextricably linked with and nourished by nature, which forms the foundations of biophilia. A biophilic approach to design results in buildings that have valuable but complex influences and that can be grasped through effects on our own behavior: increased relaxation, a sense of delight, an improved capacity for personal reflection, and collaborative creativity. Because these effects are often distinctly absent from work environments, these are the same outcomes that many covet when visiting a place of respite, such as a local park.
We enter parks to slow down, to pause, and to absorb the buffered quiet spaces away from the speed and noise of the city. These man-made landscapes serve as healing oases embedded within built hardscapes. The garden houses, comfort stations, storage sheds, and other shelters that dot our parks should quietly be celebrated because they amplify the visual and audible whimsy of nature.
While modest, these structures present some of the best opportunities to model sensory biophilic design.