18 ★ FTWeekend 21 March/22 March 2020
House Home
A
ccording to UN data, 83 per
cent of the UK population
lives in cities — compared
with 15 per cent before the
industrial revolution. That
proportion is expected to
rise to 90 per cent by he
middleofthiscentury.
Humans are mammals,
programmed over millen-
niatorespondtothenatural
world. We may be able to
live and work in man-made
environments most of the
time. But according to a new
movement of “biophilic”
designers and enthusiasts,
wearenotthriving.
We may appear to have
adjusted to lives spent under
artificial light, for example,
but writer Sally Coulthard
likens it to the practice of
keeping animals in captivity,
in surroundings ill-suited to
their needs.
“We live in a world that is
fundamentally mismatched to
our evolutionary adaptation —
we don’t see, hear and feel the
things that we are pro-
grammed to respond to,” she
writes in her book,Biophilia,
which is published by Kyle
Booksthismonth.
“Modern cities and buildings are
essentially ‘zoos’, places that have been
constructed as a replacement for our
natural environment, so it’s no wonder
thatweoftendon’tfeelatease.”Enter the concept of biophilic
design — the practice of creating living
and working environments that incor-
porate the natural elements that we
often instinctively feel most comfort-
able with. These include daylight,
fresh air, plants, water features and
naturally occurring, minimally proc-
essed materials.
“Something as simple as installing
timber walls could have a huge impact,”
says the architectural and interior
designer Oliver Heath. “Real wood re-c
ates a sense of calm and also brings vis-
ual texture, which makes it ideal for
domesticinteriors.”
He references a study by
the trade body for the Aus-
trian timber industry,
Holzcluster Steiermark,
calledSchule Ohne Stress
(School without Stress),
which shows that pupils in
timber-clad classrooms
were more relaxed, slept
better and had lower heart
rates than students in
standardclassrooms.
There’s plenty of wood
in Heath’s1960s home,
which incorporates
biophilic components
including circadian lighting,
colour-changing LEDs that
can be set to mimic natural
light, changing from a blue to
an orange hue depending on
the time of day.
“Blue light... is helpful when
you need to work, while a warmer
light is more relaxing as we instinc-
tively associate it with firelight,” he
says.“Littlethingslikethatcanmakea
hugedifferencetohowwefeel.”
Plants are one of the easiest ways to
add life to a stuffy interior, but they
needhospitableconditions.
“All plants need natural light, and it’s
a vital factor if you want them to have
any impact on air quality,” says Tijana
Wardian, a new high-rise residential development in Canary Wharf, London, uses biophilic features as its main selling point Blanusa, the principal horticultural‘Biophilia’ by
Sally CoulthardInteriors How ‘biophilic’ design could provide|
an antidote to urban living and the loss of
contact with the natural world. ByCatriona Gray
It’s a jungle in here
MARCH 21 2020 Section:Weekend Time: 18/3/2020- 18:37 User:rosalind.sykes Page Name:RES18, Part,Page,Edition:RES, 18, 1