Biophilic Design in Architecture: Impacts on Well-being

Abstract

In the last ten years, ‘nature’ and biophilic design have received widespread attention in architecture, especially in response to growing environmental challenges such as psychological and mental disorders. The biophilia hypothesis posits an innate biological and genetic connection between humans and nature, including an emotional dimension to this connection. The biophilic design builds on this hypothesis in an attempt to design human-nature connections into the built environment. However, open questions and controversies remain regarding conceptualizing and addressing ‘nature’ in practice and research The present research aims to investigate the components of biophilic architecture and examine their impact on well-being in successful case studies. In the end, solutions are proposed to enhance the sense of well-being through biophilic architecture. A mixed qualitative-quantitative approach has been employed to achieve the practical objectives of the research. In the research process, initially, the components related to biophilic design, including three categories nature in space, analog nature, and nature of space, were extracted through library and documentary studies. Then, based on the data obtained from the qualitative section, a researcher-made questionnaire was provided to experts in the fields of architecture, psychology, environment, and health. The results of the experts' questionnaire, analyzed using the SPSS software, revealed that the influence of nature on space components was greater than other components. In the third step, the indicators of nature in space, examined in the case studies, and solutions were proposed to promote a sense of well-being through biophilic architecture.