Environments for Aging - Winter 2021 - 35

community
Digging deeper
Taking a holistic approach to biophilic design can
help support seniors' specific health issues while
creating more engaging residential environments
by Catie Ryan, Lara Slavkin, and Jay Weingarten
For Crown Point Christian
Village in Crown Point, Ind.,
RDG Planning & Design
incorporated an overhead
canopy on the building
exterior that provides a
shaded and dappled lighting
experience, tying into the
biophilic principle of dynamic
and diffuse lighting.
B
IOPHILIA DESCRIBES THE innate
connection humans have with nature
and living things-connections
that are evidenced to exhibit measurable
positive health benefits among
people young and old. Accordingly, biophilic design
involves the interplay of advanced research
in environmental psychology, neuroscience, and
endocrinology with the practical application of
nature-inspired elements across the breadth of the
built environment.
In its report " 14 Patterns of Biophilic Design, "
Terrapin Bright Green, an environmental design
consulting firm, identifies patterns in nature that
can be applied in interior and exterior environments
for the purpose of addressing universal issues
of human health and well-being. These include
visual connection with nature, presence of water,
dynamic and diffuse lighting, materials connections,
and space patterns that support a natural
sense of refuge, mystery, risk/peril, and/or awe.
For owners and operators of senior living communities,
it can seem like the path of least resistance
to incorporate plants and nature-inspired patterned
textiles and call it biophilic design, but this is
only a surface-level intervention. Holistic biophilic
design-that is, design that looks at the whole user
experience rather than only one or two elements-
targets specific health outcomes initiated by intrinsic
responses to nature that are deeply embedded
within human biological cycles and systems (circadian
rhythms, heart rate and blood pressure, stress
hormone levels, and immune system). Thoughtful
biophilic design offers a lens through which designers,
owners, and operators can improve the health
of residents, caregivers, administrators, and visitors.
Though the research supporting biophilic design
applies fairly universally (across age, gender, ethnicity,
socioeconomics, upbringing, etc.), designers
can identify which health impacts are most critical
to senior populations and use biophilic interventions
to intentionally create spaces that nurture,
inspire, comfort, and heal relative to their unique
needs. Common yet specific health conditions that
impact user experience can be attenuated, at least
in part, by asking which experiences of nature support
the desired health outcome(s).
For example, loss of visual acuity is common
among seniors with several age-related conditions
(e.g., diabetes, macular degeneration, glaucoma) and
has been associated with increased risk of premature
death. To help temper this risk, design can incorporate
biophilic applications of dynamic and diffuse
lighting that integrate fenestration and daylight with
electric lighting design, color palette, and partition
opacity. These strategies can improve visual clarity
through the provision of appropriate light levels, adequate
contrast between light and shadow, and light
from more than one source in a given space.
Hypertension, too, is a prevalent condition
winter 2021 | 35
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Environments for Aging - Winter 2021

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