Popularized by the American psychologist Edward Wilson in the 1980s, the term "biophilia" literally means "love of nature." Biophilia focuses on our innate attraction to nature, its natural processes, and the environment.

Today's life doesn't involve as much connection with nature as previous generations. Instead of spending time outdoors, we lead a reclusive work-life, trapped in office boxes. The challenge for biophilic interior design is to make office workers feel the same indoors as they do outdoors.

Biophilic design includes decorating walls and ceilings with natural materials, indoor plants, lamps that imitate sunlight, and dynamic water structures. The design
recreates everything that we are used to seeing in nature. The goal is to convey
natural vibes to office workers through interior design.

The coronavirus pandemic showed people that they don't necessarily have to stay at the office all day to perform their tasks. Instead, they can work from home while having more time for their families, hobbies, and so on. Whether employees tend to work at home or in the office, biophilic designers attempt to make people feel like they are not on office premises. And there are strong reasons why doing so is worth the effort.

— Reduction in stressful situations
The World Health Organization claims that cardiovascular diseases and mental health disorders are at the fore today. This is primarily because our connection with nature is decreasing while technological development is snowballing. It is necessary to allocate resources and dedicate time to restoring mental energy. A recent study found that employees working in biophilic environments had much better stress-recovery levels than those in a non-biophilic environment.

— Increased productivity
Global Workplace Analytics research shows that only 50% of people feel that their offices support them. 78% say they would like more flexibility in their working options. Businesses tend to invest more in their employees when they believe it will increase productivity and achieve a better balance between life and work.

Workers in office environments with natural elements report a 15% higher level of well-being, are 6% more productive, and 15% more creative. It is no secret that such large giants as Amazon have equipped greenhouses to grow indoor plants in their offices. The administrators of these greenhouses pay maximum attention to their ventilation and air quality on office premises.

— Increased creative potential
Biophilic design not only improves the productivity of office workers but also improves their mood. Moreover, being connected with nature stimulates an employee's creativity. A Human Spaces report found that employees whose offices included biophilic elements were 15% more creative than offices without such features.

Attention recovery theory suggests that looking at nature - and even just images of nature - can switch the brain to a different processing mode. That makes employees feel more relaxed and focused.

When implementing the biophilic design in an office, it is essential to keep in mind that its nature dictates the rules. Here are three main principles that constitute a successful implementation of biophilic design:

— The presence of nature
This principle refers to the physical presence of nature, meaning indoor plants, containers of water, and flower beds placed in a way that everyone can interact with them. The visual aspect is key here. It provides employees with a sense of nature in a conscious and profound way.

— Natural materials
Any landscape design should include organic associations with the natural world. These can be objects, colors, shapes, and patterns that appear in the workplace. Instead of a tree (which is pretty difficult to place in an office), you can include wooden furniture, which can help reconnect people with elements of nature.

— Space
For employees to perceive and enjoy biophilic elements, a designer should pay a lot of attention to their disposition. Office plants should be placed organically, and in a way they will be noticed. Spaces should be organized to create the feeling of a vast area, with soft light and clear air.

Implementing biophilic design requires the work of professional designers along with a significant investment of time and company resources. However, if implemented the right way, it does pay off. Moreover, several methods help to reduce the time and costs associated with implementing a biophilic design.

Since the trend is relatively new, many organizations are unaware of the changes they'll need to be prepared for and the results they should expect to achieve with biophilic design. Interiorscape businesses should adopt a sales model with measurable impacts on business KPIs. Business owners that want to implement biophilic design should know what to expect from the innovations and how much it will cost them.

Let's figure out how it should work using the example of Livee, an AI-based service for prototyping interior landscaping. Let's say you are a CEO of a company that wants to make its team more productive and happier. You make a request on Livee by indicating the parameters of your office, the number of employees, the average age of an employee, and how many of them are working remotely.

The next step is choosing the areas you want to go green in. This can be anything from an entrance, a working space, or even a home office. After that, you should clarify the results you want to achieve. Things like increasing productivity, staff comfort, supporting a green environment, and so on. After that, Livee's AI takes over to calculate the goals and effectiveness of landscaping, the impact of the happiness index on employees and to select the best combinations of pots and plants.

In less than one minute you will get landscaping recommendations that are tailored exactly to your goals and are designed to improve the well-being of your employees and their productivity. With such a tool, you can set up your happiness index scores according to your needs and get a ready-made landscaping proposal that already includes the cost, terms, and accurate KPIs.

For interiorscape businesses, Livee helps to get instant benefits such as a 10x faster pre-sales process. Based on statistics from dozens of our clients, AI saves them 90% of a designer's time and $400 on each proposal by automating scheme generation.