Happy Earth Day! Last year, on Earth Day’s 50th anniversary, we reflected on how differently Earth Day looked smack dab in the middle of a pandemic. Are things different this year? What have we learned in the last year?
For one, and perhaps most importantly, we’ve learned how closely linked health and wellness and sustainability strategies must be. A recent piece in Work Design explains how biophilic design is the nexus of the intersection of health and wellness and sustainability. That’s especially true as workers are beginning to trickle back to the workplace.
Plants not only make a workplace “feel” healthier and more cheerful, they actually make occupants in a workplace healthier as well by reducing stress, promoting creativity, and enhancing healing.
These, and many more benefits of biophilia, have all been documented in the 14 Patterns of Biophilic Design, a meticulously researched piece by Terrapin Bright Green, which many consider the strongest case ever put out for the benefits of biophilia in the workplace.
Need more advice? This story -- one of my favorite pieces we’ve ever published -- by Paula Przybylski of design firm stok gives some wonderful advice specific to facility managers about best practices for biophilic design.
This post was submitted by Greg Zimmerman, deputy editor, Facility Group.
