What is a Biophilic Design Home & Why They Are Important for Our Future

Biophilic design is gradually gaining popularity in terms of new home interiors and residential constructions. With the help of components like indoor plants, fountains, terraces, and gardens, it’s a style that helps residents feel more connected to nature. Often described as a movement rather than a trend, biophilic design homes are here to stay!

What is Biophilic Design Home?

Biophilia is often described as ‘an innate affinity of human beings with the natural environment.’ Studies have shown that all human beings crave a natural environment, be it a subconscious attraction or out of desire.

With biophilia being defined as the ‘love for all things nature, a biophilic design home can be understood as a home designed with elements of nature, perfectly in harmony with modern architecture and smart and space-efficient interiors. Biophilic design homes enhance a person’s sense of connection to nature via the design and construction of their living spaces. Biophilic design homes focus on elements of nature that have benefited human health and wellness to satisfy our intrinsic need to feel connected to nature.

Features of a Biophilic Design Home

1. Environmental Features : The most notable feature of biophilic design homes is their environmental features that connect the built environment to the characteristics of the natural world. People are drawn to elements of the natural world, including plants, animals, and organic objects. Colours, water, and sunlight can also evoke a sense of connectedness to nature, and well-ventilated places can improve overall well-being. Buildings that blend in with the natural environment, such as ivy-covered walls or structures that complement the area’s geological features, are also frequently well-liked.
2. Natural Shapes and Forms : The representations and simulations of the natural environment on structures, internally and externally, are included in the category of natural shapes and forms. This can contain themes of animals and the structures they make, including colonies and webs, as well as shapes, forms, and patterns seen in flora, such as trees, leaves, and vegetation.
3. Natural Patterns and Processes : This feature, which is distinct from shapes and forms, focuses on how incorporating characteristics of nature improves the built environment in a biophilic design home. Examples include:
   1. Variations and richness of detail in things we perceive with our senses, like light or sound.
   2. Changes in the qualities of materials over time
   3. Central focal points
   4. Open areas with clearly defined boundaries.
   5. A sense of pattern, contrast, or connection found among different spaces.

   People also favour a sense of fullness or completion in environments composed of various separate components.

4. Light and Space : Numerous methods exist to incorporate light and space into a place. This is a key component of biophilic design homes. In the meantime, space can be used to define surrounding shapes and locations. This is done to engender a sense of openness, diversity, harmony, and a connection between indoor and outdoor surroundings.
5. Place-based Relationships  : A connection between culture and ecology is referred to as the aspect of place-based connections. People have a strong sense of place because of our need to govern territory to secure resources and maintain safety; this explains why we become homesick or miss certain areas. Geographical and historical characteristics, regional ecosystems, cultural components, materials, and landscapes – all play a role in how we react to locations. People develop a protective sense of stewardship over a place when emotionally connected to it.
6. Evolved Human-Nature Relationships : This feature focuses on the core ideas of that interaction and how they might be mirrored in built environments. This can involve encouraging a sense of security and safety, balancing diversity and regularity, curiosity and exploration, and a sense of accomplishment and environmental mastery. Through the use of this element in biophilic design homes, we may also tap into our kinship with, and attraction to nature.

Mahindra Nestalgia 

Mahindra Nestalgia, our most recent residential development, aspires to reinstate the exposure to nature and the great outdoors that transports you back in time with our biophilic houses. Our one-of-a-kind biophilia-inspired homes, situated in the thriving neighbourhood of Pimpri-Chinchwad, will encourage you to relive your fondest childhood experiences and give your kids (or your inner child) a chance to live a simple lifestyle that is the ideal fusion of biophilic home design and contemporary architecture.

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