Biophilic design

Plants, view and living systems brought inside.

8 entries

Close-up of long, textured grey and brown brick masonry at the Kolumba Museum Cologne.

Biophilic & Wellness

Kolumba Museum: Peter Zumthor's Porous Clay and Earth Enclosure

Peter Zumthor wraps the bombed ruins of Cologne's St. Kolumba church in perforated grey Danish brick, joining lime plaster and earth pigments in quiet dialogue.

23 Oct 2026

Extreme close-up of the Ningbo History Museum's 'wa pan' masonry wall, showing salvaged grey bricks, terracotta tiles, and stone fragments.

Biophilic & Wellness

Ningbo History Museum: The Tactile Memory of Found Walls

The Ningbo History Museum, designed by Wang Shu, embodies a unique architectural approach through its use of salvaged materials and traditional construction techniques.

30 Sept 2026

A grotto interior features rough stone walls and vaulted ceiling embedded with countless pebbles and seashells, with a window

Biophilic & Wellness

Palais Idéal: The Postman's Patient Construction

Palais Idéal du Facteur Cheval in Hauterives, France, is a testament to persistent, unengineered construction. Built over 33 years by a postman, it integrates natural forms and found materials into a unique architectural vision.

7 Sept 2026

Overhead view of the red tile and verdigris copper roofs of Villa Capponi architecture, surrounded by green trees and olive g

Biophilic & Wellness

Villa Capponi: Gothic Lines and Veridian Pigments in the Tuscan Hills

Villa Capponi, a Renaissance villa with Gothic origins near Florence, demonstrates a historic approach to biophilic design through its enduring structure and verdant interior palette.

6 Aug 2026

Art Deco Penthouse New York: A room with plaster walls, terrazzo floor, leather armchair, and rammed earth wall, overlooking

Stories of Place

New York Penthouse: Biophilic Detail in Art Deco Plasterwork

Art Deco penthouses in New York City often transcended mere aesthetic; they integrated biophilic principles through refined lath and plaster craftsmanship, fostering indoor wellbeing.

25 Jul 2026

Concrete stairway with blue painted walls and railings leads to a blue door.

Biophilic & Wellness

Blue Shells of Helsinki: Material Honesty and Air Quality in Research Architecture

Helsinki’s concrete-shell research laboratories synthesize ancient structural principles with modern material honesty, prioritizing indoor air quality through precision steel detailing and non-toxic material choices. This approach addresses off-gassing and VOCs.

15 Jul 2026

Sainte-Luce Cabin, clad in dark timber with extensive glass, cantilevers over a misty lake from a side view.

Material Notes

Lead and Light in Quebec: Tracing Biophilia in the Sainte-Luce Cabin

The Sainte-Luce Cabin in Quebec exemplifies an unexpected fusion of Ottoman classical aesthetics with localized building techniques, notably through its lead-came stained glass that fosters interior wellbeing.

1 Jul 2026

New York penthouse architecture with a terracotta facade and ornate glass windows, seen from an exterior vantage at sunset.

Construction Diaries

Baroque Tectonics: The New York Penthouse as Sanctuary

Discover how the Rose Hill penthouse in Manhattan fuses Baroque theatricality with lead-came stained glass and terracotta to redefine high-rise wellbeing.

26 Jun 2026

Nearby topics

Adaptive reuse Sustainability Circular economy Neuro-architecture Vernacular Tectonics Colour & atmosphere Heritage