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ROUND TABLE REVIEW
ROUND TABLE RECOMMENDATIONS
• Jim Hart, Corstorphine + Wright Architects: Start designing around biophilia, rather than biophilia being designed around the building. Make it an integral part of the concept at the outset, as opposed to shoehorning it in.
• Kim Dixon, OP Group: Having a lot of time with the end user makes it so much easier to do environmental design that is human centred.
• Richard Sabin, Growing Revolution: Language is important; don’t talk about it as being a liability to be maintained, that gets handed over to the FM department, talk about it as an asset to be nurtured.
THE SCIENCE OF BIOPHILIC DESIGN
Lisa Norton said that clients and designers needed to understand that biophilic design extends far beyond just plants to a scientifi c, holistic approach to environments
Heath. Even though the cost dictated that whole walls couldn’t be repainted, a wide band of colour was chosen at eye level, plus highlights of colour in “slightly odd spaces, like on columns.” The fi nal post-occupancy study gleaned some “amazing results,” declared Oliver Heath. Individual productivity went up by nearly 18%, and perceived wellbeing increased by 28%, focus by nearly 12% – and sensory stimulation by 48%. “There were some really compelling numbers,” he said, especially considering the cost of “one person not being in the offi ce because they’re burned out or because they’re absent,” thereby representing “signifi cant” return on investment for the client.
Further solutions The event’s solutions discussion considered looking at broader ideas around the design elements that should be prioritised to connect workers back to nature – including sight, sound, touch, and even taste and smell, including consideration of neurodiverse users, and the solutions currently popular with commercial workplace clients. The chair of the second portion of the debate, Architects’
Datafi le editor James Parker, cited the fi ndings from ADF’s Industry Viewfi nder audience survey on biophilic design, published in January 2025, which found that clients’ corporate ethos or ESG goals were not the major driver for engaging in biophilic design. Sitting above this was ‘end user wellness,’ aesthetics, and architects’ own design imperatives, as well as the passive design benefi ts of biophilic approaches.
Potentially concerning for paint manufacturers, colour was eighth on the list of 11 priority areas in terms of biophilic design measures, presenting a major obstacle to overcome in projects. More positively, however, of the small number of respondents who measured the ROI of projects (10%), 40% said that clients were seeing a return of 30 to 40% from biophilic redesigns of commercial settings. Our delegates demonstrated exactly why such thoughtful approaches were becoming more popular, and why clients as well as designers should take biophilic design seriously.
• Rokshid Ghaziani, University of Portsmouth: Consider the relaxation benefi t of water for environments, and health benefi t of biomaterials. Digital biophilia, potentially interactive surfaces and changing wall colours, and use of projectors; also, our connection to the sky isn’t really considered.
• Stuart Fraser, MAKE Architects: Post-Covid, we now talk about people as well as the planet, and not being so blinkered on sustainability, and looking at wider values and opportunities. We need to strive harder on innovation and breaking the barriers down.
• Dawn Scott, Dulux Trade: Nature-inspired colour is not just blues and greens, it’s all of the colours in nature. And saturation needs considering, not just light refl ectance values for regulatory compliance; colour saturation ties into neurodiversity. Also, don’t leave colour until the end, bring it further up the design process.
• Larry Tate, Alliance for Sustainable Building Products: Who are the actual decision makers on workplace projects, and how do we convince them? ‘POV’ is super important, how can we take them to buildings to fi nd out how they make them feel?
• Sam Taylor, Bavian Design: Take your clients for a walk to a park to have a meeting.
• Lisa Norton, Biophilic Designer: Recognise there is a real education piece that biophilic isn’t just plants or ticking a couple of boxes, it’s a much more scientifi c approach.
• Jenny Edwards, Oktra: We need more widespread accreditation; because clients are so keen on having the ‘piece of paper.’ And maybe some kind of incentive for clients, like a tax relief for biophilia.
Oliver Heath summed up his strategy for designers looking to bring natural benefi ts to a wide variety of workspace projects in a robust way: “Ensure that every space is a healthy space by applying the concept of a ‘Green Thread of Wellbeing.’” He concluded: “This ensures that wellbeing features are applied consistently throughout the design from outside to inside, and adopted by each respective profession.” A laudable aim.
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ADF APRIL/MAY 2026
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