By: Joy Wagner
Sustainable Building Associate
What role does nature and our inherent need for natural
connections or biophilia play in placemaking?
To understand the relationship between placemaking and sense of place
and biophilia, we must first understand biophilia, biophilic design, and
placemaking.
According to E. O. Wilson (1984), biophilia is defined as
“the connections that human beings subconsciously seek with the rest of life;
the urge to affiliate with other forms of life”. Wilson and Kellert (1993) take this
definition one step further, and define it as “the inherent human inclination
to affiliate with natural systems and processes, especially life and life-like
features of the non-human environment”.
So if biophilia is the connections we seek with the rest of life, it
would make sense that biophilic design would be the “deliberate attempt to translate
an understanding of the inherent human affinity to affiliate with natural
systems and processes (known as biophilia) into the design of the built
environment” (Kellert, 2008).
Placemaking or sense of place as it is sometimes called is
thought to be “an overarching idea and a hands-on tool for improving a
neighborhood, city or region” (What is Placemaking, 2015) that is “a
multi-faceted approach to the planning, design and management of public spaces”
that “capitalizes on a local community’s assets, inspiration, and potential,
ultimately creating good public spaces that promote people’s health, happiness,
and wellbeing” (Placemaking, 2015).
How might we use biophilic design to promote people’s
health, happiness, and well-being?
According to the text Biophilic Design: The Theory, Science, and Practice of Bringing
Buildings to Life (Kellert, 2008), there is an element of
biophilic design that specifically addresses place and place-based
relationships. This element and the
corresponding attributes can be used to connect the built environment to the
area in which it is located. Kellert
(2008) defines place-based relationships as “the successful marriage of culture with ecology
in a geographical context”. Through
biophilic design you can create place-based relationships through a historical,
cultural, geographical, and/or ecological connection to place. You can also use the landscape and materials
of the location to create place through the use of indigenous materials, use of
the landscape in defining the building form, and creating wildlife corridors and
promoting biodiversity.
While
the Biophilic Design text gives
wonderful descriptions of these elements and attributes of biophilic design, it
was still somewhat theoretical and conceptual to me as a designer and educator,
so I sought out images of that I thought exemplified some of these attributes.
 |
Cultural and Historic Connection to Place:
Mesa
Verde Visitors Center, Mesa Verde National Park, CO Design by: Landmark Design and ajc
architects
Indigenous Materials:
Myrick Hixon EcoPark, La Crosse, WI Design and Photo by: Whole Trees Architecture
& Structures
Ecological Connection to Place:
Nest Home, Onomichi, Japan
Design by: UID Architects Photo
by: Hiroshi Ueda
References:
Kellert, Stephen R., and Edward O. Wilson. The Biophilia
Hypothesis. Washington, D.C.: Island, 1993.
Kellert,
Stephen R., Judith Heerwagen, and Martin Mador. Biophilic Design: The
Theory, Science, and Practice of Bringing Buildings to Life. Hoboken, NJ:
Wiley, 2008.
Placemaking.
(n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved February 27, 2015, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placemaking
What
Is Placemaking? (n.d.). In Project for
Public Spaces. Retrieved February 27, 2015, from http://www.pps.org/reference/what_is_placemaking/
Wilson,
Edward O. Biophilia. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1984.
