Biophilia - The call of nature


Both designers and their clients are looking toward biophilic design to be more in touch with our planet’s needs.


By Veronica Simpson

BIOPHILIA IS the innate human instinct to connect with nature and other planetary beings – everything from plants, insects, animals and fish, to lakes and mountains, whose rights to ‘personhood’ have become a major platform for ecological protests.

However, when the term first emerged in the design and architecture community around 2010, it was at the forefront of a whole speculative movement that saw designers trying to mimic the look, feel, patterning and textures of nature, borrowing from its innate engineering genius – usually for the purposes of aesthetics or performance, or both. Examples include Michael Pawlyn’s Sahara Forest Project for the Qatari government – greenhouses that copy the contours and behaviors of Namibian beetle wings in order to harvest the morning dew – and Tonkin Liu’s wonderfully innovative shell lace structure which uses the geometries of nature to provide greater strength with less material – deployed already in bridges and most recently in their marvelous Tower of Light clean energy station in Manchester.

However, neither these projects nor their contemporaneous inventions contribute to an appreciation of our role within the wider planetary ecology. The spotlight was still – as per the prevailing 20th century norm – very much on human ingenuity, or science, design and engineering harnessed for our own delight or benefit. It feels almost foolish to say so now, but it seems we felt then that technology could hold the answer to the perils we have inflicted on our planet.

The 160m-long bridge imitates Australia’s rural trestle flood bridges. Image Credit: Rory GardinerThe 160m-long bridge imitates Australia’s rural trestle flood bridges. Image Credit: Rory Gardiner

In 2022/2023, the mood is very different; I doubt that anyone imagines that the forces of technology will reverse the harm we have done so far with our fossil-fuel intensive, extractive practices. And the best of the new biophilic designs are addressing one or all of three things, the most obvious of which is to draw us away from urban centres and out into nature, into the wilderness, and frame the experience in such a way that we might appreciate and respect its glories anew. Another strand is to stay in the midst of urban density, and create havens for wildlife, bringing new opportunities for connection with and understanding of what is growing on our doorsteps. The third – and arguably most impactful – is to create schemes that repurpose neglected or blighted sites in ways that enrich the terrain, the flora and fauna.

As evidence of this mood shift we need look no further than the National Trust, which, while doing what it has always done – maintaining the UK’s natural and built heritage sites of significance – has recently expanded its attention and funding to the greening of impoverished urban spaces. Castlefield Viaduct in Manchester (see case study) is one of the first outcomes of its new Urban Place policy, bringing more green space to urban places and communities.

Another, pandemic-inspired development for key National Trust properties and beyond has been the creation of ‘Silent Space’ – a place designated for calm and contemplation inside some of its most remarkable landscapes, as well as those of other stately homes and gardens.

Meanwhile, the UK’s National Lottery Heritage Fund declared, in June 2022, a ‘£13.7m boost for nature, communities and culture’, with earmarked projects including one that supports vulnerable species, from bats to bumblebees across Scotland (NatureScot); another to restore natural and built heritage along the River Tweed, and a further award to enhance woodland and biodiversity across Derbyshire (the Hurst Farm Heritage Trail). Twelve projects for tree planting and improving access to nature were given an additional £6m.

From a derelict and dangerous post-industrial site to an inner-city haven for nature, Glasgow’s clay pits have witnessed a remarkable transformation. From a derelict and dangerous post-industrial site to an inner-city haven for nature, Glasgow’s clay pits have witnessed a remarkable transformation. 

But while planting trees is all very well in the temperate north, trees are one of the most endangered species in parts of the world suff ering from extreme environmental impacts, with devastating forest fi res now a regular occurrence in the US and Australia. Not surprisingly, as a result, some of the more enlightened clients are placing genuine biophilic design higher up their wish list, according to Paul Stoller, managing director of Atelier Ten in Australia. He tells FX: ‘There is a heightened appreciation for a well-designed place and part of that is connecting people to the natural environment.’ Bundanon Art Museum and Bridge is one such project recently completed together with Kerstin Thompson Architects (see case study). He says: ‘It’s a nice example of beautiful, thoughtful architecture which, almost inherently, has a connection to its local place as well as nature.’ Having been involved right in the early workshop stages of concept design, he says: ‘We spent a lot of time talking not just about natural materials or vegetation on the site, but also habitat for indigenous ecosystems. It is home for animals by design, it is home for landscapes that thrive in the local conditions.’

This message of habitats, rather than mere planting, is just as important to take to clients in urban centres, says Stoller: ‘We very much talk about habitat as a key project outcome. In urban environments it’s very much a trade-off.

Every scrap of sky-facing surface is contested territory, but we’re increasingly referencing in our projects roof space, terrace space and ground space for habitats.’

And people are listening, says Stoller, not just to the case for more enlightened planting and landscaping but also to the arguments for shared district energy plant ‘because you can consolidate your cooling towers and have fewer towers, which allows you more roof space for habitat and for amenity. It is a much more meaningful discussion now that we are more focused on good biophilic outcomes.’

Case Study - Bundanon Art Museum and Bridge

Central to the museum design brief was to deliver on the Boyd family’s vision of fostering a deeper appreciation of landscape and art. Image Credit: Rory GardinerCentral to the museum design brief was to deliver on the Boyd family’s vision of fostering a deeper appreciation of landscape and art. Image Credit: Rory Gardiner

Bundanon is a 1,100 hectare site in New South Wales, gifted to the Australian people by artist Arthur Boyd – in whose paintings this remote landscape frequently featured – and his wife Yvonne in 1993. Set high above the Shoalhaven river and fringed with forests, its facilities are now substantially enhanced with a low-impact and high quality partially embedded Art Museum and Bridge. The design evolved through close collaboration between Kerstin Thompson Architects (KTA), Atelier Ten, landscape architects Wraight Associates and structural engineering firm WSP, with the emphasis on sustainability and resilience within a site frequently affected by floods and fires. As practice founder and director Kerstin Thompson says: ‘It places the site’s ecology at the centre of the design.’

Placed in the ‘sweet spot’ of the masterplan least at risk from flooding or fires, the move to partially submerge the museum goes one better: it creates a safe storage space for the outstanding Boyd Collection, helps with cooling and stabilising temperatures and creates a dramatic atmosphere in the gallery, with slices of daylight arriving from above or through the one glazed elevation. But it also provided inspiration for the bridge. Says Paul Stoller, managing director of Atellier Ten, Australia: ‘The exciting thing was we realised if you have the museum building in the ground then conceptually, physically and metaphorically, it’s the anchor for the extraordinary cantilever out of the bridge. We just carry that line on to bridge the existing gulley.’

The bridge is 160m long and 9m wide, and its structure imitates Australia’s rural trestle flood bridges. The beautifully detailed wooden cabins arranged along it provide a balance of radiant heating and hand-operated window louvres to control air flow. The new facilities are arranged adjacent to the historic Boyd buildings – a 19th century homestead complex plus the Boyd Education Centre, designed by Glenn Murcutt, Wendy Lewin and Reg Lark, which opened in 1999 – and unites the suite of buildings around a shared forecourt and arrival hall.

The site now benefits from solar power, rain water harvesting, black water treatment, as well as ground source heat pumps for heating and cooling. Add to this the new buildings’ passive temperature control and use of local materials, it brings the project close to the desired net-zero carbon ambition.

Central to the museum design brief was to deliver on the Boyd family’s vision of fostering a deeper appreciation of landscape and art. Image Credit: Rory GardinerCentral to the museum design brief was to deliver on the Boyd family’s vision of fostering a deeper appreciation of landscape and art. Image Credit: Rory Gardiner

This goal was for pragmatic reasons, as much as anything. Says Stoller: ‘They are literally at the end of the power line, which crosses the river, comes down through the forest and down the road. They lose power all the time – every time a tree falls within a couple of dozen kilometres they lose power, and then they have to shut down because they might miss word of a bush fire or flood. So for basic safety reasons they’re constantly struggling to maintain business operations because of the power irregularities.’

Central to KTA’s brief was an intention to deliver on the Boyd family’s commitment for the site to ‘foster an appreciation for and understanding of landscape and art’, says Thompson. It looks like they have delivered on every count.

Client Bundanon Trust
Architecture Kerstin Thompson Architects
Cost Aus$34m
Completed March 2022
Sustainable design engineering: Atelier Ten
Structural engineers WSP Australia
Services engineering Steensen Varming
Construction Adco
Landscape Wariaght Associates Landscape
Awards the Sulman Medal for Public Architecture, and Sustainable Architecture Award, New South Wales Architecture Awards 2022

Case Study - Glasgow Clay Pits

Not only have safe routes for people passing through been created, but a premium has been placed on the ability of nature to survive thereNot only have safe routes for people passing through been created, but a premium has been placed on the ability of nature to survive there

The Glasgow Canal, just over 1km north of the city centre, meanders through some of the most disadvantaged and disconnected communities in Scotland. Its Claypits – a 17ha post-industrial, derelict site that straddles the canal and from which clay was dug to build the 18th and 19th century canals – were massively overgrown, and perceived as unsafe and contaminated. But in 2021, they transformed into an inner-city nature reserve, thanks to Land Use Consultants (LUC), working with Scottish Canals and the Glasgow Regeneration Partnership.

Although the idea first saw light in 2014 when LUC was appointed to lead a collaborative design project to establish a shared vision for the city’s Green Infrastructure Masterplan, work did not begin until 2019 and carried on through the pandemic to complete in 2021.

Jill Malvenan, development manager for Scottish Canals, says: ‘It was about creating routes for people into the site but preserving the ability of nature to survive here.’

LUC’s planting and landscaping designs have transformed this formerly no-go-zone into a multi-functional green space to improve connectivity and healthy activity, while harnessing the ‘wild’ character of the site. There are now 1.5km of paths, bridges and boardwalks, plus areas designed for play, art, activity and exploration.

Not only have safe routes for people passing through been created, but a premium has been placed on the ability of nature to survive thereNot only have safe routes for people passing through been created, but a premium has been placed on the ability of nature to survive there

The plan has been integrated into a wider sustainable urban drainage system (SUDS), the North Glasgow Integrated Water Management System (NGIWM) which provides surface water drainage for the regeneration of adjacent vacant and derelict sites, extending blue-green ‘fingers’ out from the canal into several water management areas, which will support new development schemes for housing, education and business.

The restoration of this site has transformed people’s engagement, with locals using it for both leisure and transit through the lush and leafy routes which have opened up between neighbourhoods. It is one of the first, highly successful phases in a wider L500m investment programme that the city hopes will help reduce disease and improve prospects for a healthy, active and longer life in an area famous for some of the UK’s worst health statistics.

Client Scottish Canals
Lead designer, landscape management and ecology LUC
Area 17ha
Cost L7.5m
Quantity Surveyor Thomas and Aamson
Civil and Structural Engineer DSSR
SUDS Designer AECOM
Contractor Mackenzie Construction Ltd.

Case Study - Castlefield Viaduct

The National Trust hopes the 52,000 people who live locally will become regular visitors to the site. Image Credit: National Trust/Paul HarrisThe National Trust hopes the 52,000 people who live locally will become regular visitors to the site. Image Credit: National Trust/Paul Harris

A former viaduct in Manchester re-opened to the public at the end of July 2022 as a ‘park in the sky’. Taking its cue from the New York High Line, the Grade II listed Castlefield Viaduct offers a 330m temporary park, featuring 3,000 plant species in gardens co-created by community groups and architects. The viaduct is a 12-month pilot project to introduce greenery into an urban landscape notoriously blighted by 70 years of decline around the city centre warehouses that once symbolised Manchester’s place at the heart of British industry and manufacturing.

This 1892 viaduct was constructed by the same engineers behind the Blackpool Tower – Heenan and Froude – to transport goods and freight to the Great Northern warehouse, but had not been used since the 1960s.

Its rehabilitation cost £1.8m, and took five months, with the intention that at least 80% of the added elements could be removed and repurposed, if needs be. Due to weight limits on the structure, the planting uses a specially commissioned, extra light peat-free compost.

Planters have been designed to echo the viaduct’s curves, and their width mirrors that of its long-disused railway tracks. There are diagonal blossom hedges to mimic the viaduct’s steelwork.

Gardening activities are very much part of its programming, with volunteer and community groups assigned specific plots, including Urban Wilderness, who worked with Manchester’s 42nd street charity which supports young people with mental health issues. There is a Garden of Possibilities planted with species known to have calming and positive effects on mental health.

Elsewhere, planting has been chosen to reflect the colours and textures of the surrounding urban realm. Red caladiums tone with the surrounding redbrick warehouses, blue salvias the local canal, and tall foxtail lilies have been planted to reflect the influx of the latest crop of Manchester skyscrapers blooming along the skyline. Plants with a connection to Manchester’s heritage also feature, such as the county flower, cotton grass and fern species once collected by Manchester suffragist and botanist, Lydia Becker.

There is a booking system for the 100 people expected to visit the viaduct daily, though entry is free. An estimated 52,000 people live within 20 minutes of the viaduct, and it is hoped they will become regular visitors. National Trust director general Hilary McGrady declared it to be ‘a collision of everything that the National Trust stands for’, combining architecture, gardens and history.

The development, which was co-ordinated and steered by the National Trust, was funded largely by the People’s Postcode Lottery and public donations. A charity has been established to fundraise during the year, in the hopes that, if this new Manchester landmark proves popular, it can be made a permanent feature.

Client National Trust and partners including National Highways Historic Railways Estates
Architects Twelve Architects & Masterplanners
Construction MC Construction
Size 330m long
Cost L1.8m
Opened July 2022

Case Study - Pollinator Pathmaker

Rather than creating a sculpture for strictly human appreciation, Ginsberg developed a planting scheme that would appeal to the insect pollinators themselves. Image Credit: Pollinator Pathmaker by Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg, Part Of Back To Earth Exhibition At Serpentine North (22 June – 18 September). Installation View. © Readsreads.info. Courtesy SerpentineRather than creating a sculpture for strictly human appreciation, Ginsberg developed a planting scheme that would appeal to the insect pollinators themselves. Image Credit: Pollinator Pathmaker by Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg, Part Of Back To Earth Exhibition At Serpentine North (22 June – 18 September). Installation View. © Readsreads.info. Courtesy Serpentine

Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg is an artist whose work makes us question both the prevailing cultural beliefs as well as the science around species loss and extinction. Her practice renders scientific data in ways that challenge us aesthetically, intellectually, emotionally and poetically. In September 2021, she planted a massive art work at the Eden Project in Cornwall in the form of a 50 sq m garden inspired not by our own, human idea of what is appealing but what is attractive to pollinators – bees, wasps, butterflies and all the insects so vital in the fertilisation and replication of plant life, and therefore the food we eat.

The original Eden Project commission was to create awareness around the fate of pollinators, whose populations are rapidly dwindling; in areas of Germany where use of pesticides prevails, 75% of flying insects have disappeared over the last 27 years. Ginsberg says: ‘Those figures are probably similar to anywhere in the pesticide-using world.’ Though the brief was initially for a sculpture, she felt ‘planting something for pollinators made more sense.’

Rather than creating a sculpture for strictly human appreciation, Ginsberg developed a planting scheme that would appeal to the insect pollinators themselves. Image Credit: Pollinator Pathmaker by Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg, Part Of Back To Earth Exhibition At Serpentine North (22 June – 18 September). Installation View. © Readsreads.info. Courtesy SerpentineRather than creating a sculpture for strictly human appreciation, Ginsberg developed a planting scheme that would appeal to the insect pollinators themselves. Image Credit: Pollinator Pathmaker by Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg, Part Of Back To Earth Exhibition At Serpentine North (22 June – 18 September). Installation View. © Readsreads.info. Courtesy Serpentine

Ginsberg looked at research into pollinator vision, and found a scientist at Exeter University who can replicate what bees see, how their field of vision works and what colours they respond to. Bees, for example, ‘can’t see red. They see blue, green and ultraviolet. But they also see polarised light,’ says Ginsberg. Her research led her to think ‘What does a garden look like to these primary users? I designed an algorithm to try and answer that question, but also to buffer from human taste, so I wouldn’t get distracted by arranging plants in ways I find aesthetically appealing. I wanted to see if we could use the technology for pollinators’ benefit.’

The resulting Pollinator Pathmaker project has become not just an Eden Project art work, but one that absolutely anyone, anywhere can access, through the online website and toolkit Ginsberg has developed. People can create a virtual garden if they don’t have any outdoor space, or they can put in the dimensions and orientation of a real garden and be given a specific, pollinator-friendly design with its own edition number (currently on offer are 150 different planting schemes created for northern European plants and climate).

Ginsberg says: ‘When they realise the artwork, the money doesn’t go to me as the artist but to pay for seeds, to plant them and invest in climate care and stewardship…In this way, the work has empathy and collaboration, altruism and generosity threaded through it.’

Rather than creating a sculpture for strictly human appreciation, Ginsberg developed a planting scheme that would appeal to the insect pollinators themselves. Image Credit: Pollinator Pathmaker by Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg, Part Of Back To Earth Exhibition At Serpentine North (22 June – 18 September). Installation View. © Readsreads.info. Courtesy SerpentineRather than creating a sculpture for strictly human appreciation, Ginsberg developed a planting scheme that would appeal to the insect pollinators themselves. Image Credit: Pollinator Pathmaker by Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg, Part Of Back To Earth Exhibition At Serpentine North (22 June – 18 September). Installation View. © Readsreads.info. Courtesy Serpentine

Ginsberg hopes to inspire not only individuals but communities to plant Pollinator Pathmaker gardens, and likes the fact that, in the process, this ‘transforms the consumer of the artwork into an activist.’ Already she has another site along the north edge of Kensington Gardens, which was planted as part of the Serpentine’s Back to Earth exhibition and commissioning programme. In August 2022, she completed a commission to create a Continental Europe planting scheme, thanks to Berlin’s Light Art Space, and is in talks to develop schemes for the US. ‘What we’re really trying to do,’ she says, ‘is make the world’s largest climate positive art work.’

Client The Eden Project
Artist Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg
Details pollinator.art

Case Study - Heatherwick Unfolding Glasshouse

 The glasshouse structure features ten ‘sepals’ made of glass and aluminium that are, in warm weather, capable of unfolding like a blossoming flower, allowing the plants within to receive natural sunlight and ventilation. Image Credit: Raquel Diniz/Heatherwick StudioThe glasshouse structure features ten ‘sepals’ made of glass and aluminium that are, in warm weather, capable of unfolding like a blossoming flower, allowing the plants within to receive natural sunlight and ventilation. Image Credit: Raquel Diniz/Heatherwick Studio

We are often surprised to learn that plants we think of as typically British are far from it. Heatherwick Studios has recently installed a remarkable structure in a West Sussex garden as part of a landscaped narrative that reveals the extraordinary story of the British garden and the provenance of its most popular plants, many of which first arrived on these shores thanks to the ancient Silk Road that developed through trade routes between Asia and Europe which evolved from the second century BCE until the mid 15th century.

The glasshouse structure features ten ‘sepals’ made of glass and aluminium that are, in warm weather, capable of unfolding like a blossoming flower, allowing the plants within to receive natural sunlight and ventilation Image Credit: Hufton+CrowThe glasshouse structure features ten ‘sepals’ made of glass and aluminium that are, in warm weather, capable of unfolding like a blossoming flower, allowing the plants within to receive natural sunlight and ventilation Image Credit: Hufton+Crow

Rosemary, lavender and fennel, are among the 300 once-alien plants arranged strategically in a meandering pathway through Woolbeding Gardens, each curated into schemes that represent 12 distinct regions along that route, from the evergreens of the Mediterranean to the scented roses so beloved of English gardeners but which originated in Persia. At the epicenter of this journey is the Heatherwick–designed structure, which features ten ‘sepals’ made of glass and aluminium. In cold weather, they are closed to protect the subtropical plants contained inside them, but in warm weather, the hydraulically operated sepals open out (a process that takes four minutes) creating a 141 sq m space in the shape of a crown, allowing the plants – including a rare specimen of an Aralia Vietnamensis, plus ferns, umbrella trees, magnolias and bananas – direct access to sunshine and ventilation.

The glasshouse structure features ten ‘sepals’ made of glass and aluminium that are, in warm weather, capable of unfolding like a blossoming flower, allowing the plants within to receive natural sunlight and ventilation Image Credit: Hufton+CrowThe glasshouse structure features ten ‘sepals’ made of glass and aluminium that are, in warm weather, capable of unfolding like a blossoming flower, allowing the plants within to receive natural sunlight and ventilation Image Credit: Hufton+Crow

Conceived and developed by the Woolbeding Charity, working closely with the National Trust and Heatherwick Studios, the glasshouse along with its enchanting and educational Silk Road planting is part of the Trust’s ongoing restoration and reanimation of this historic house and landscape. It continues a tradition of remarkable garden structures at Woolbeding that includes a William Pye water sculpture and Philip Jebb’s neoclassical folly.

Client The Woolbeding Charity with The National Trust
Design Heatherwick Studios
Landscape Architects MRG Studio
Environmental Engineer Atelier Ten Ltd
Structural and Façade Engineer Eckersley O’Callaghan
Glashouse detailed engineering design and construction Bellapart
Habitat and Garden Design Consultant Great Dixter Charitable Trust
Main Contractor RW Armstrong

Case Study - The Glade

 

Denizen Works was invited by the National Trust for Scotland to create a rangers’ base and visitor centre to act as a gateway to the Cairngorms National Park. This poetic, low-key design that feels like it has been materialised from the landscape rather than imposed upon it, is their response: square in plan with a profile inspired by the region’s gently rolling valleys, it is clad in a seamless black liquid applied membrane, its elevations animated by shadows from the surrounding pine forest.

 

The interior recreates a man-made glade with specimen trees that reveal the history of the surrounding park. It is designed to operate year round, with shelter from the legendary Scottish rains provided by a large, covered outdoor space.

 

The proposed structure is ready and waiting for budgets and schedules to be reanimated post pandemic.

 

Client National Trust for Scotland

Architecture Denizen Works

Area 900 sq m

Cost NA








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