At the end of this podcast you’ll be well-armed with enough interior design tips all based on science, to transform your office to create the best environment to help you focus, be creative, stay calm, feel rested and be productive! You will learn how to move your furniture around to create a prospect and refuge scenario to help you get more done, how wood grain helps you feel more comfortable, why views of natural elements, and views of nature are important, why you need natural light to enhance our circadian rhythm, how to change the soundscape and scentscape in your offices and homes to help keep everyone happy and relaxed and able to focus!

Working with what you've got or almost what you've got, you can transform your space to make your space the best it can be. Harking back to when we were a young species Dr Sally Augustin, one of the world’s leading applied Environmental Psychologists shows us how we essentially have the same make up as our early ancestors and by keeping that in mind, we can use that knowledge to improve our working environments.

Biophilic Design has so many aspects to it, it is not just plants, greenery, light, colour ways, it is also about using natural materials in products, using natural materials to enhance a space and provide happiness and comfort to those using it. A recent (and we hope successful!) entry to Surge for Water 2020, an annual design competition in Dubai run by the charity which is aiming to end poverty and provide clean water in challenged locations (eg Uganda and Haiti). I spoke to the design team of AAID, Allen Architecture Interior Design, is based in Dubai, about the concept behind their LINK entry. Working together they created an hexagonal modular wall system made out of sustainable local and recycled materials which also employ local artisans and labour. Just as we do, each 'LINK” block relies on the one below, and can be adapted as shelves, planters, like little pods. Obviously the hexagon is an important shape in nature, just look inside a Bee Hive.

With Lockdown preventing many of us from having our own space, the privacy to be able to pursue a hobby, to connect back to yourself, this challenge stuck the team at AAID as a key issue they wanted to help. Seeing people in labour camps, or being unable to move from four walls, when home becomes work, how do we reconnect to us? Their concept allows the community where it is installed to move it around, to make it taller or shorter, shape it.

One of the overarching elements of this project which for me is excellent, is that the manufacture of these LINK pod modular system supports local community, local farmers, local artisans, helping preserve specialist skills. Being surrounded by four walls wherever you are, whether that’s in an office building in Dubai or in a home in Wisconsin, you need something natural around you to help your wellness, your focus, your creativity, your happiness, your joy. This LINK system ticks all those boxes, and to top it all, it is a beautiful and inspirational piece of furniture! I wish them luck!

To find out more about AAID visit their website. For more about Surge for Water see theirs.

A big thank you to the team in Dubai for spending time with me and sharing their project with us too. Thanks to Regina Mathew, Mansi Tewari, Ruqaiyya Reza, Somya Garg.

You don't need much to bring in the benefits of Biophilic Design. You will create an environment where people really love to work there. It is the simple things. Wood tactile, character. Even facsimiles of wood helps to relax your eyes, relieves you more than just having white table tops.

Even just an image helps, makes us feel more comfortable. One of the projects she is currently working on, she is bringing in a large scale landscape, huge print on a glass wall with big leaves, which has very interesting and positive effect on the whole space, it is a feature, you want to look at. Printing on see through materials, glass, acrylic.

Simulated views, something our publisher Argenta Wellness understands and embraces. Why not give it a try?

We also discuss RESET which is a certification for improved ventilation systems. Air quality, it’s important that you continually measure it. When you close windows, VOCs/ formaldehyde, particle matters, CO2 increase, making us tired, sick and causes our focus and energy to slip. Ultimately if you have a better ventilation system, you will save money on staff sick days, improve staff retention and therefore save on recruitment costs and so on.

To find out more visit www.journalofbiophilicdesign.com

Dr Joanna Leach is research fellow at the University of Birmingham. This is a fascinating podcast where some surprising green initiatives being implemented in Biophilic Cities are discussed, think bats and bridges as well as incredible edible towns. The more connected we are with our environment and nature the better. Imagine a city where we can see nature, smell fresh air, hear bird song.

Photo of Dr Joanne Leach, copyright Simon R Leach.

Dr Leach makes the really valid point that cities are not 'natural' entities, they are heavily engineered spaces, they are dense, and their impact goes far beyond their borders. We need to think of new ways to improve the environments while also improving the infrastructure of the spaces.

We discuss different initiatives that sustain people, the economic machinery and our planet.

Dr Leach's focus is currently on Birmingham, where she explains there is a great deal of innovation on green infrastructure. If you look at a satellite map of Birmingham you'll see that it is actually very green, and with more miles of canals that Venice, they are connecting up green and blue spaces to make the city accessible and create safe car-free and walking environments. She also tells us of projects by other cities, from Bats and Bridges and Incredible Edible Todmorden.

If you’re involved in city or town planning, are an architect, developer or a citizen who cares where they live, this podcast is definitely worth a listen. Cities and Towns can do things differently, they just need to learn how to.

Shouldn't all employees be catered for when planning and designing a workspace? Oliver Baxter, based in Dubai, is one of a team of three who make up the Herman Miller Insight Group, their focus is holistic and human-centric. In our podcast we discuss biophilic design but also especially now, how intuition when planning workspaces is no longer appropriate, it has to be used on research, on evidence. Aligning this with actually catering for what your people actually "NEED" to do their job. Oli suggests that companies might do well to take a step back, when planning their workspaces. It should it be about catering for everybody, knee-jerk reactions are no longer appropriate as people's lives are on the line, and we need to consider the decisions we are making now. There are many biophilic elements companies can bring into their workplace from plants to natural materials and desk positioning. Did you know if you sleep within 6 metres of natural source of daylight you'll sleep 45 minutes longer at night? Did you know we are only sat at a desk and a chair of 30% of our time on average in the workplace and meeting rooms are generally 3 times too big? All that wasted real estate! How will this all change after Covid? This and other useful insights are in this podcast, filmed over Zoom between the UK and Dubai.

How can we as Biophilic consultants embrace the Five Elements of Feng Shui to further understand our environment we live and work in, how we relate to our spaces and also how living more intuitively with the elements of nature can make a difference to our wellbeing, future planning, confidence and actually getting off our backsides and doing something. Another fascinating conversation with Luminous Spaces founder, Maureen Calamia, who has developed a practice of Biophilic Design based on the 5 Elements. This is such a fascinating podcast, listen as she explains what the characteristics are of the different elements, how they connect with the earth, air, and us and how you can apply this learning to your own life and help you take the next steps in your own personal journey.

She explains what the different elements are: Water, Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and how we can have greater wellbeing by considering the harmony of all these elements and realising how we are intrinsically connected to this harmony and these elements in nature.

If you missed our previous podcast with Maureen be sure to check it out here, or search for it on Amazon Music, Apple iTunes or wherever you subscribe to your podcasts.

Take her quiz online and have look around her site. She is running courses on Feng Shui and also Biophilic Design. She has written a new article for us on The Ancient and The Modern, how the 5 Elements can be harnessed to enhance Biophilic Design practice.

Buy her book Creating Luminous Spaces: Use the Five Elements for Balance and Harmony in your Home.

Can play really transform our workplaces? Do we need it more than ever? Niklas Madsen is founder of Superlab, an experimental design laboratory with a main goal to study the future workplace and furniture design of tomorrow. Their book "Playful Office - the future office philosophy that will turn employees into employees' kickstarted an innovative journey, researching the benefits of creative play in the office, allowing free thought to flow in the workforce as well as engendering solutions and wellbeing for companies they work with. They are also now exploring AI and other digital tools to help transform spaces for people. Combining that with biophilic solutions has created some really interesting spaces, that encourage staff retention and productivity.

Oliver Heath’s name is synonymous with biophilic design, his appearances on TV and his extensive experience using biophilia in interior design and architecture has positioned him as a leading light in bringing nature and elements of nature into our spaces to improve our wellbeing, health, creativity, productivity and as he says here “happiness”. Biophilic design principles allow us to bring elements of nature into the built environment, especially into those places where we experience a great deal of stress. Our connection to nature can unlock so many benefits, stress washes off us, we become different people, we can think more holistically about our life and where it’s going. The impact the buildings we inhabit and work in have an enormous effect on our lives, especially now with the restrictions placed on us as a result of the Covid epidemic. With an onset of almost cabin fever, we are recognising the fact that the building we surround ourselves with has a huge impact on our physical, mental and emotional states. Nature can play a valuable role, the benefits of plants and greenery, adding personalisation, direct influence over a space, improve air quality, sunlight, fresh air, easy to improve spaces. Sensory elements, how we move in the space, acoustics, thermal issues. easy to engage with, satisfying. If you want to create healthier spaces have a listen to this excellent podcast or watch the video on our YouTube Channel and and see how we can use human centred and biophilic design to make a phenomenal difference to your home, your work, your life and our planet.

There are four free Design Guides which he mentions on the video podcast, to download these excellent free resources go to: https://www.oliverheath.com/resources/ They are also launching a new Biophilic Design course, how to integrate Biophilic Design into their home. Sign up on their website to be among the first to register.

Can technology and nature go hand in hand, can we use technology to embrace nature? If so, how? Technobiophilia is a new term coined by writer and researcher Sue Thomas. We speak with her about her book of the same name and also about Nature, Wellbeing in the Digital Age. Quotidian use of our device interaction throws up the most surprising benefits it seems, who would have thought that Grand Theft Auto or FarmVille would give us a potential escape route after work into nature, or how nature found its way into our metaphorical library to be an unspoken lexicon for cyberspace terminology. When we use our devices we step into another world, another geography even. Allowing ourselves the grace to embrace technology could provide a transition or an accessible portal for us to enter into the natural world. We talk webcams, Blue Mind, AVs in healthcare, screen savers, the geography of cyberspace and environmental psychology. An interesting and thought-provoking listen to anyone working with nature in their practice, from urban planning to architecture and interior design.

Sally Coulthard, designer and best selling author writes a great column for Country Living “Good Life in the Country.” Her recent book “Biophilia" - You, Nature, Home” is a ‘Handbook for bringing the natural world into your life’ and is one of the most beautifully crafted books I’ve read for years. It feels like you are holding nature in your hands. I was thrilled to interview her and get her take on Biophilia, why it’s important today, why cities and buildings should be weaving biophilic elements into their interior designs and urban planning. We chat about the interconnectedness of nature and our lives, how biophilia embraces many aspects and has many benefits not only from an aesthetic point of view but also environmental and on a more profound level as it reduces negative issues such as stress and improves positive aspects like helping sleep, air quality, nervous systems. The science is overwhelming.

Personally it was also lovely to speak with someone who has a similar interest to me in anthropology and archaeology which she read at Oxford, I read Classics at UCL. Both backgrounds have given us a desire to understand how society organises themselves, and how we relate to nature and the world around us.