Unless you’ve been hiding under a metaphorical rock, you’ve surely heard about the waves being made by biophilic office design.
This is the trend of bringing elements of the Great Outdoors, into the office environment. Consider it a visit from Mother Nature, your office being touched by green fingers and elements of the forest.
Whatever you want to categorise biophilic design as, the benefits in terms of morale and productivity are quite far reaching.
Check out this interesting infographic for a quick look at some surprising statistics.
Source: www.ergomonkey.com/workplace-environment/psychology/biophilic-design
Simply by opening the windows and allowing fresh air into the office environment, and improving the quality of the air with a few plants on office desks here and there, you can look forward to 11% productivity gains! That’s a huge amount, for quite little effort.
Let’s look into five quick ways you can go biophilic, but avoid spending a small fortune at the same time.
Declutter Your Window Spaces An Throw Open The Windows
Biophilic design isn’t all about decoration, it’s about the environment too. Get rid of any rubbish which is cluttering up your window spaces and open your windows. This allows fresh air into the office, which is far more beneficial than the ‘fake’ air circulated by fans and air conditioning machines. You could also use mobile office partitions rather than static ones, so air can move around freely, and use your partitions only when you need them.
If you use mesh office chairs in your space too, these will allow all that fresh air to circulate around the people sitting in them far easier, creating a more comfortable environment.
Decorate Your Office With Green Plants
One of the easiest ways to go biophilic is to add some greenery. This can be large plants around the office space, perhaps high standing shrubs, or it can be small green plants on desks. Whichever works for you, and whatever you have space for. Plants such as this will also improve the air quality and give your employees that connection to nature, which is what biophilic design is all about.
Make The Most of Your Wooden Furniture
The chances are you already have certain pieces of wooden furniture in your space, and in that case it’s time to showcase them! What is more natural than wood? It comes from trees after all! Rustic types of wood look fantastic, but you can easily give your wooden desks a clean down, perhaps a new coat of varnish for a shine up, and you could perhaps go biophilic in your meeting room too, with a solid oak boardroom table!
Add in Natural Pieces of Artwork
If you’re not ready for a total redecoration yet, another good option is to use pieces of artwork here and there, depicting images of nature. You could go for beaches, mountains, waterfalls, fields, forests, anything you like! These are inspiring, calming, and let’s face it, they look pretty good too!
Paint The Walls in Neutral Colours
If your office is due a new lick of paint, why not opt for a biophilic, natural shade this time around? Greens, beiges, creams, even light browns all tie in with nature, and you could even have a feature wall, with images of plants and trees. If you’re not ready for an office redecoration, this could be something to bear in mind for the next time you are.
Despite all the benefits, you might be wondering how you’re supposed to create a biophilic office on perhaps a small budget. Changing your office design is of course going to cost some cash, but there are ways you can create a biophilic space without hitting the red.
As you can see, it’s not always that difficult to go biophilic, and there are ways you can tick this style box, without spending a small fortune in the process!