Biophilic Design

Stephen R. Kellert is the Tweedy/Ordway Professor of Social Ecology and Co-Director of the Hixon Center for Urban Ecology at Yale University, and a Partner in the private equity firm Environmental Capital Partners. The recipient of numerous awards for teaching and writing, he is the author of more than 150 publications, including seven books.Judith H. Heerwagen is President of J.H. Heerwagen & Associates. She is a psychologist whose research focuses on sustainability, biophilia, and the evolutionary basis of environmental aesthetics. She has authored and delivered numerous articles and lectures on the topics of workplace, biophilia, and the psychological value of space.Martin L. Mador, a researcher on biophilic design at Yale University, has worked on green building and healthy schools issues, including the passage of LEED legislation in Connecticut. He is a board member of the Connecticut Sierra Club, as well as several other environmental organizations.

• Acknowledgements. Contributors Biographies.Preface (Stephen R. Kellert and Judith Heerwagen).Prologue: Afterword, years after (Hillary Brown).I. THE THEORY OF BIOPHILIC DESIGN.Chapter 1: Dimensions, Elements, and Attributes of Biophilic Design (Stephen Kellert).Chapter 2: The Nature of Human Nature (Edward O. Wilson).Chapter 3: A Good Place to Settle: Biomimicry, Biophilia, and the Return of Nature’s Inspiration to Architecture (Janine Benyus).Chapter 4: Water, Biophilic Design, and the Built Environment (Martin Mador).Chapter 5: Neuroscience, the Natural Environment, and Building Design (Nikos Salingaros and Kenneth Masden).II. THE SCIENCE AND BENEFITS OF BIOPHILIC DESIGN.Chapter 6: Biophilic Theory and Research for Healthcare Design (Roger Ulrich).Chapter 7: Nature Contact and Human Health: Building the Evidence Base (Howard Frumkin).Chapter 8: Where Windows Become Doors (Vivian Loftness).Chapter 9: Restorative Environmental Design: What, When, Where, and for Whom (Terry Hartig, Tina Bringslimark ,and Grete Grindal Patil)?Chapter 10: Healthy Planet, Healthy Children: Designing Nature into the Daily Spaces of Childhood (Robin Moore and Clare Cooper Marcus).Chapter 11: Children and the Success of Biophilic Design (Richard Louv).Chapter 12: The Extinction of Natural Experience in the Built Environment (Robert Pyle and David Orr).III. THE PRACTICE OF BIOPHILIC DESIGN.Chapter 13: Biophilia and Sensory Aesthetics (Judith Heerwagen and Bert Gregory).Chapter 14: Evolving an Environmental Aesthetic (Stephen Kieran).Chapter 15: The Picture Window: the Problem of Viewing Nature through Glass (Kent Bloomer).Chapter 16: Biophilic Architectural Space (Grant Hildebrand).Chapter 17: Towards Biophilic Cities: Strategies for Integrating Nature into Urban Design (Tim Beatley).Chapter 18: Green Urbanism: Developing Restorative Urban Biophilia (Jonathan Rose).Chapter 19: The Greening of the Brain (Pliny Fisk).Chapter 20: Bringing Buildings to Life (Tom Bender).Chapter 21: Biophilia in Practice: Buildings that Connect People with Nature (Alex Wilson).Chapter 22: Transforming Building Practices through Biophilic Design (Jenifer Seal Cramer and William Browning).Chapter 23 Reflections on Implementing Biophilic Design (Robert Fox and Robert Berkebile).

"Stephen Kellert, a social ecologist, has spent much of his career thinking and writing about biophilia, the innate human affinity for nature. Biophilic Design is an exploration of how we cut ourselves off from nature in the way we design the buildings and neighborhoods where we live and work. And it's an argument for re-connecting these spaces to the natural world, with plenty of windows, daylight, fresh air, plants and green spaces, natural materials, and decorative motifs from the natural world." (Yale Environment 360, December 2009) "…Kellert asserts that people "learn better, work more comfortably, and recuperate more successfully in buildings that echo the environment in which the human species evolved." He says there are a number of ways to improve worker productivity and retention and reduce absenteeism. The most basic step is to improve the availability of natural light. Kellert is analyzing the effect of biophilic design on office work productivity, absenteeism, number of sick days. Kellert believes there is a definite connection between biophilic spaces and improved productivity, and some studies point to a positive relationship." (dirt.asla.org, September 2009)"By applying biophilia to design, the editors and contributors hope to go beyond the standard green architecture goal of simply lowering the environmental impact of buildings. They hope to enhance the human relationship with nature through buildings believing, that one's affinity for light or water should be incorporated into the placement of windows. The book is divided into three parts. The first provides a theory of biophilic design and offers general guidelines. The second offers a more focused look at health issues and the role of nature. The third examines applied instances of biophilic design. Summing Up: Recommended" (Choice, September 2009)"These authors urge architects to do what they can to incorporate nature in the design of buildings." (GreenSource, April 2009)"Biophilic Design collects descriptions of current destructive practices, analyzes their roots in human nature, and offers low-cost, low-impact strategies for change." (Architecture Boston; Nov/Dec 2008)"Stephen Kellert's Biophilic Design…brings together biologists, ecologists, psychologists, architects, designers and city planners to probe the confluence of people, nature and design." (Miller-McCune.com, 7/14/08)"Make no mistake: Biophilic Design, all 400 pages of it, is one of the best design books of this decade." (New Urban News, April-May 2008)