A Master's Thesis project by Kari Leif
THE BIOPHILIC SCHOOL
A Toolkit of Biophilic Interventions for Existing Schools to
Enhance Student and Faculty Health and Performance
WHAT IS BIOPHILIC DESIGN?
Biophilia is the innate human desire to connect with nature and other living beings. Biophilic Design is the practice of connecting people and nature within our built environments and communities. There are a growing number of resources to help facilitate biophilic design such as taxonomies and best practices. Two leading resources for biophilia are Terrapin Bright Green's 14 Patterns of Biophilia and Stephen Kellert's 6 Biophilic Design Elements. Click on the links below to learn more about these standards.
WHY IS BIOPHILIC DESIGN IMPORTANT FOR SCHOOLS?
Nature is key to early childhood development
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In a 2005 publication, Kellert concluded that the healthy development of children’s emotional, evaluative, and intellectual development depends on accessible and abundant natural environments. [1]
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In a 2021 population-based birth cohort study in Metro Vancouver, Canada, Jarvis et al identified that every 10% increase in percentage vegetation within 250 m of the residential postal code resulted in a 0.16 increase in teacher-assessed Early Development Instrument score (p = 0.0073). (n=27,372) [2]
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[1] Stephen R. Kellert. (2005). Building for Life : Designing and Understanding the Human-Nature Connection. Island Press.
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[2] Jarvis, I., Davis, Z., Sbihi, H., Brauer, M., Czekajlo, A., Davies, H. W., ... & van den Bosch, M. (2021). Assessing the association between lifetime exposure to greenspace and early childhood development and the mediation effects of air pollution and noise in Canada: a population-based birth cohort study. The Lancet Planetary Health, 5(10), e709-e717.
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A MASTER'S THESIS
In two parts
TAXONOMY & CARDS
The first part of this thesis project revolves around the creation of a taxonomy for biophilic retrofit strategies for K-12 schools. There are 7 categories with a total of 30 design strategies.
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Based on this taxonomy, a set of 42 cards has been created to both visualize and showcase the benefits of each biophilic retrofit strategy.
CARD SORTING STUDY
The second part of this thesis project uses the cards created in the first part and asks community experts such as teachers, school boards, and parents to rank the design strategies based on:
1) How beneficial the strategy would be
2) How affordable the strategy would be
The results of this exercise will be statistically analyzed and reported as part of the final thesis deliverable.
