Carefully curated interior design can transform a space – but with the many design styles available at our fingertips, it can be hard to settle on what’s right for your project. When it comes to choosing design features, it’s natural to prioritise how each style will make your space look – but what if there’s more to consider? For some design varieties, benefits exceed aesthetics, boasting advantages for our well-being too! In this blog from Arc Structures, we take a look into the style and benefits of biophilic design – noting what is meant by biophilic design, its advantages and the types of green walls available.

For more informative pieces related to innovative interior and exterior design solutions, visit our blog. Articles include – How to Improve Energy Efficiency in Buildings, How Are Commercial Plant Walls Made and Top 5 Uses for Outdoor Pods.

What is a biophilic design?

Biophilic design is a design philosophy focused on incorporating natural features into built-up environments and spaces. Biophilic design uses features such as green walls to create an environment that merges indoor and outdoor features – bridging the gap between the concrete structures of urban spaces, and the bright and leafy feel of more rural locations. Many instances of biophilic design incorporate features such as plants, wood, water and natural light to generate the desired effect.

Plants in particular offer ample opportunities to incorporate green walls, which commonly take the form of vertical structures, covered in plants and greenery. Biophilic design features are becoming increasingly popular within our towns and cities, with nature-centred designs offering a therapeutic contrast to industrial cityscapes and minimalist interiors.

Benefits of Green Walls/Biophilic Design

One of the unique features of biophilic design is its wide-ranging benefits that exceed aesthetics. In addition to offering a unique, visually interesting look to a space, biophilic design is said to boast advantages for numerous aspects of health, wellbeing and customer experience.

Green Walls Improve Health and Wellbeing

At the core of the biophilic design philosophy is the belief that humans benefit from being in the presence of natural features – that interacting with nature and its products makes for a happier and healthier life. As more and more of our spaces become increasingly urbanised, opportunities to fulfil this need have become fewer. Living walls offer an innovative way of incorporating greenery into cities that feature limited ‘spare’ space. Green walls in both indoor and outdoor settings have been found to reduce stress, boost calmness and creativity, improve productivity and better our overall mental health.

Exterior Living Walls Encourage Biodiversity

Depending on the substrate used, biophilic design walls could feature a wide range of plants, including native species, pollinator planting and sources of nectar. Plants such as these create a habitat for bees and burrowing insects – even encouraging natural colonisation! Bringing wildlife into our towns and cities offers even more opportunities for us to deepen our connection with nature, in addition to providing enjoyable environments to relax and recharge.

The Air Purification Qualities of Green Walls

In addition to looking great and boosting our mental health, green walls also offer air purification advantages. It is widely understood that poor air quality can be a key cause of many health issues. The incorporation of green walls into biophilic design helps purify the air in polluted cities. Living wall plants assist in purification by extracting pollutants such as carbon dioxide into the air and converting them into oxygen – which improves surrounding air quality!

Not only does this create a healthier environment in the immediate sense, but to the planet overall. In addition to reducing pollutants through their plants, the soil selected for a plant wall can also contribute to the filtering of pollutants – with natural soils boasting further absorption properties.

Plant Walls Reduce Ambient Temperature

In addition to reducing the concentration of pollutants in our air systems, exterior living walls also absorb a large percentage of sunlight, reducing in a cooler, more pleasant climate in busy cities and spaces. In contrast, living walls created within indoor spaces help regulate a building’s temperature, providing insulation that keeps a space warm in winter and cooler in summer. Soil-based living plant walls are also understood to reduce room temperature in warmer climates.

Business traffic

Another interesting advantage of green walls is their benefits for businesses. For businesses operating in the health and wellbeing sector, incorporating green walls into your working space will provide a conducive environment for clients seeking services that support their health and wellbeing. If your space contributes to positive emotions within your customers, it is more likely that they will re-visit!

Green Wall/Living wall Design

Living wall designs come in a variety of different forms. One particularly common type of green wall structure uses a lattice design. This style requires limited to no soil and boasts greater flexibility in terms of positioning. Modular tiles and trays can also be used to construct plant walls – with the holes within these structures providing somewhere for irrigation and roots to live. These trays allow for a more vertical structure as opposed to the sloped facades sometimes used when generating natural effects. Not only are green walls efficient in the space they use, but also the time they take to construct, with the simplistic structure and natural design making for a project that has an impact, without taking up too much time to produce. It could also be argued that once erected and arranged, green walls do much of the work themselves, continuing to produce benefits with minimal maintenance.

Biophilic Design with Arc Structures 

 Here at ARC Structures, we specialise in creating bespoke structures for both residential and commercial use. All of our structures, including our greenwalls, are built to your specifications, in line with your brief and your budget. Our services take your project from start to finish including design, manufacturing, installation, project management and maintenance. So, you can have peace of mind that not only has your structure been constructed to the highest standard – It’s also been made to last. To speak to one of our team about our range of products and tensile structures, get in touch today.