“Yes, Cancer, you may be the hard-shelled crab, but underneath all of that, you’re so much more. As the zodiac’s intrepid captain, you’re the quiet leader holding down your crew when the winds begin to rise. Nautical metaphors aside, you’re one of the zodiac’s three water signs (along with Scorpio and Pisces), which means you’re comfortable dealing with emotions. You may not reveal them as much as your watery counterparts, but you feel things just as deeply. Your status as one of the leadership-driven cardinal signs (like Aries, Libra, and Capricorn) means people feel safe following you, probably because you’re sensitive to their needs. Having the moon as your ruler helps with that too, since you’re already an expert at harnessing your own rapidly changing moods. Cancer season lasts from June 21 to July 22, so get ready for smooth seas ahead in your relationships, career, and spiritual life.” - My Domaine
Paying homage to our quiet leaders, I wanted to draw the parallel between this amazing characteristic of quiet strength & highlighting mother nature as our unwavering organic kingdom of strength & solitude. Nature fortifies & restores our body’s chemistry effortlessly & innately. This post will skim the surface of biophilic design traits & how those can translate into a stronger, healthier designed environment. At its simplest, biophilic design references patterns, textures, smells & colors found in a natural state and focuses those elements into a holistic & healthy designed environment. It centralizes around the user as a biological being, valuing mental & physical health front and foremost. It is difficult to provide super specific blanketed statements about biophilic design, as the appropriate answers & solutions vary so much from local environments to individual health conditions & socio-cultural factors. Instead I’ll be referencing a study & research finding done by Terrapin Bright Green, a research & consulting group known for their approachable & tangible consistency on biophilic design. If you’re interested in a whole heck of a lot more detail, check out their research here.
A designed biophilic environment can consider these seven overarching consistencies: a visual connection with nature, a non-visual connection with nature, non-rhythmic stimuli, thermal + airflow variability, the presence of water, both dynamic & diffuse light, and a connection with natural season & temporal changes.
Diving deeper into details, 3 additional physical qualities to consider: symbolic patterns, textures or numerical arrangements, a physical material connection with nature, and a rich variety of sensory information through arrangement both through complexity & order.
Last but not least, four ideas centered around the formation & layout of space including: prospect (an unimpeded view), refuge (a place for withdrawal from environmental conditions), mystery (achieved through partially-obscured views or other senses), and risk/peril (an identifiable threat coupled with a reliable safety net).
And just for fun!! Check out this ultimate home architecture in Singapore HERE
So yes, biophilic design is about adding plants & natural daylight to your home. BUT also remember there’s an entire ecosystem just outside of your window view that can unlock a world of happiness. A natural world that embodies the life of a quiet leader; calm and consistent in demeanor, sensitive to emotional tides and a kaleidoscopic fairytale of life’s circumstances.
This was a fun one. Can’t wait to see all my fellow fiery lions for next month’s post!
xoxo, Jordan