What happens when conservation and sustainable design come together? It naturally seems to manifest itself in Biophilic Design. We all know that the benefits of designing with our natural environment in mind, are many: not only in terms of our own physical and mental health, but also to lessen the impact on our beautiful planet. Our built environment has such an important impact on our daily lives that we should be mindful when we are designing urban spaces, civic architecture and homes.

The way we design buildings inside and out should result in a positive space for us to live and thrive in. This is something that architect Sumita Singha, OBE, embraces in her architectural practice. We speak with her to find out about some of the projects she's been involved in, including her own charity, Charushila (meaning Beautiful Foundation in Sanskrit). Putting the people who are using the space at the centre of design is important, as is our attachment to the natural world. She also tells us about the sustainable garden project she did in Ramallah, Palestine where children have since gone off and created over 100 small gardens inspired and based on the practices they learnt with her.

You might already understand what we mean when we talk about "passive" ventilation, passive houses and systems in design? Listen to Sumita explain how it works and also how she created natural ventilation into a property, and also used Solapipes to bring natural light into a space (she shows one in the video on YouTube and on our website www.journalofbiophilicdesign.com).

Sumita is founder of EArchitects for Change (the equality forum at RIBA) and was chair of Women in Architecture. She is founder of Ecologic Architects, a collaborative practice which uses agile and innovative ways of working. In fact her practice-based research has resulted in 6 influential books and research papers on the subjects of sustainable design, community engagement, healthcare and women in architecture. She won the UIA:UNESCO International design award, the Women In Business award at the House of Commons and the AJ Atkins Inspire award for Architecture.

There is a beautiful wish at the end of the podcast, in answer to the question I ask everyone who I interview, if you could paint the world with a magic brush of Biophilia what would it look like? She describes a Buddhist principle that we should be at one with nature, we can't flourish without nature and nature can't flourish without us. Listen to her wish at the end of the interview.

Ecologic Architects

Sumita Singha architect in conversation with Dr Vanessa Champion editor Journal of Biophilic Design

To find out more about Sumita Singha and Ecologic Architects visit www.ecologicarchitects.com Twitter: @Autotelic_Arch Instagram: @sumitasingha_riba. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sumitasingha/