By Kelly TaylorIssue 11 – Spring 2019 pages 45 – 49
Tags: wellbeing • workplace design • productivity

Note:
The Work&Place Editorial Advisory Board applauds this article as one of the eight best articles we published in 2019. We recommend it highly for its insights, its thoughtful focus on the impact of living plants on the workplace and work itself, and its identification of the linkages between biophilia and workplace productivity.

A brief history of biophilia and its impact
“The passionate love of life and all that is alive,” wrote German-born American psychoanalyst Erich Fromm when first describing the term biophilia in his book The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness.[i]
Fromm believed that humanity instinctively strives to overcome the feeling of being separate from nature, originating in self-awareness and becoming one with it again.[ii] In 1984, American biologist Edward O. Wilson published his book Biophilia, introducing his hypothesis that humans innately seek to connect with nature and “affiliate with other forms of life.”[iii] However, the further humanity progresses, the more this connection seems to be lost.
Like all other living organisms, we thrive in certain environmental conditions and suffer in others. If a zoo placed a tiger in a small windowless box to live out its days, who would hesitate to call it cruelty? Yet how many workers spend most of their days in a cramped and bare office?
In the end, human beings are the result of thousands of years of evolution – evolution that has programmed all living creatures to be at their best in certain natural environments, while responding negatively to others.
Based on habitat selection theory, researcher G.H. Orians concluded that humans’ environmental preferences should correspond to the features of the ancestral savanna environment that helped Homo Sapiens flourish.[iv] These features include semi-open spaces with trees, places that can serve as refuge from rain and excessive solar gain, and a lot of visual access, especially to the horizon.
From a biological perspective, there are two issues to keep in mind when speaking of comfort maintenance. First, humans have different ambient preferences resulting from a combination of influences, such as gender, lifestyle, and genetic and cultural differences.[v] Second, these preferences change over time for individuals due to the changes in their state of health, activities, and other factors.[vi]
For most of history, humans have adjusted their environment to fit their current needs and achieve comfort; however, far too many architects and designers continue to design buildings and interior spaces with a “one size fits all” approach.[vii]
Another factor to consider is that human ancestors needed to pay attention to changes in daylight and sensations associated with direct sun, humidity and wind; and even though the modern person’s perception of sensory variability has evolved, those perceptions still have a high impact on how one responds to any given environment.[viii]
According to a study funded by the U.S. Environmental Agency, the average American now spends 87% of their time indoors.[ix] The trees of the savannahs have long been abandoned in favor of built environments. However, these chosen new habitats of skyscrapers and office buildings often lack the environmental factors important for our well-being. As Dr. Judith Heerwagen put it in her work exploring the links between well-being, productivity and design, “… our ties to nature are deep and enduring; when we sever these ties, we create conditions that are contrary to basic human needs.”[x]
In the past twenty years there has been a rapidly growing body of research on how human relationships with nature and natural patterns have positive effects on a person’s physical, mental, and emotional well-being.[xi] Even a simple photograph of a natural landscape has been shown to improve stress recovery – lowering blood pressure and heart rate.[xii]
A landscape image is the most simple and direct example of a connection to nature, but many other nuanced connections to the natural world have been studied and proven to have a beneficial effect on human beings. Dynamic light, natural materials, and variable airflow are all elements that our brains and bodies associate with a natural environment and respond positively to.
With all this information available, and thousands of years of successful adaption behind the human race, the question begs to be asked: why is it that people fail to adjust their habitats now to achieve the highest levels of comfort and performance?
Designers and property managers should use this knowledge of positive and negative environmental factors in design and architecture to create habitats that meet basic human needs and promote positive experiences, improved health, and productivity….