Artcore: modulyss’ take on biophilic design

Biophilic Design. Rather than a mere trend, it can be seen as a design movement winning over a growing part of the worlds Architecure & Design Community. Driven by the urge for more sustainability and the toll of urbanisation on our overall wellbeing, our natural environment is more than ever a source of inspiration when it comes to the design of the spaces we live and work in. In this blog, we will shed a ligh on the building blocks of the biophlic design framework and how it impacted the design of Artcore, modulyss' latest carpet tile collection.

1 | What is Biophilic Design exactly?

To understand biophilic design and its potential benefits, we have to take a closer look at the evolution of humanity as a species. If we draw a timeline of human existence, for over 99% of our time being here, our biological development has exclusively been an adaptive response to natural circumstances. Only very recently artificial and human-made factors have started to have an impact on our evolutionary process. As such, our body, mind and senses have mainly evolved in a bio-centric matter.

As a result humans have an innate desire to connect with their natural environment, even though our natural habitat has in the meantime evolved from the wild towards a mainly built environment. Biophilic Design caters to this innate desire of ours. Designing and decorating spaces in accordance with biophilic principles, strengthens our bond with nature, resulting in numerous positive effects on our physical and mental health and on wellbeing in general.

These findings have major implications on various aspects of our daily existence like work, education, recreation, housing and community life.

2 | Which are the basic principles of Biophilic Design?

The application of biophilic design principles significantly alters the environmental condition of the buildings we inhabit and results in a variety of physical, mental and behavioral benefits. We’ll give you a concise overview of the most important features of biophilic design:

Supporting a continuous engagement with our natural surroundings
Dedicated to humanity’s bio-centric evolution
Encouraging emotional connection between people and with nature
Evoking a heightened sense of responsibility for each other and our natural surroundings
Encouraging integrated and interconnected architectural solutions

3 | How do people benefit from Biophilic Design?

Biophilic design positively impacts our overall wellbeing on three different levels: physical, mental and behavioral.

Physical health benefits

Improved overall health & physical fitness
Reduced illness symptoms
Lowered blood pressure
Increased overall feeling of comfort

Mental health benefits

Reduced feelings of stress & anxiety
Increased creativity and problem solving skills
Improved overall satisfaction and motivation

Behavioral benefits

Improved concentration
Increased social interaction
Better overall coping skills

Tip!: All these benefits contribute to our overall wellbeing. When it comes to commercial design, workplace wellbeing is considered to be an important topic nowadays. Read our dedicated blogpost for an in depth look at contemporary office design.

4 | Which attributes built up the biophilic design framework?

There are three different ways in which we experience nature, forming the larger building blocks of the biophilic design framework. Within a built environment we can have a direct and indirect experience. The first one refers to the contact with actual natural environmental features, the latter represents the contact with representations or images of these natural elements. A third experience is that of space and place, represented by our natural environments’ spatial features.

For each of these experiences, several attributes can be defined:

Direct Experience Attributes

Light
Air
Water
Plants

Indirect Experience Attributes

Nature images
Natural materials
Natural colours
Natural shapes & patterns

Experience of Space & Place Attributes

Refuge
Integration of parts in wholes
Transitional spaces
Wayfinding

5 | How does modulyss translate these biophilic design attributes into product features?

With Artcore, modulyss brought its first major take on biophilic design into the market of consciously designed carpet tiles. The collection is available in a variety of natural colours with optimal light reflectance values. It comes in four distinct natural patterns designers can easily combine into a unique flooring collage that organically flows from one side of a given space to the other. As such the collection aims at rewilding the interior world, bringing the benefits of the outside world into the spaces we live and work in.

Artcore also sets the gold standard when it comes to our sustainability efforts, as it is the first modulyss collection that is entirely Cradle to Cradle Certified Gold.