Biophilic design: The benefits using timber indoors can have on our health and wellbeing
Biophilic design is the concept of bringing the natural environment indoors to increase connection to the outdoors. It has been proven to increase productivity, and improve mental health & well-being within an office environment. With our new moss and timber panels arriving this week, Marketing Assistant, Amy Conboy, looks into the benefits of using timber indoors.
What is biophilic design?
Biophilic design comes from the term biophilia, meaning love of nature, which refers to humans’ innate affinity for nature. It is the concept of bringing the natural environment indoors and increasing our connection to the natural world. Biophilic design in architecture focuses on using organic materials, such as timber, and creating open spaces to let in as much natural light as possible.
What are the benefits of biophilic design?
Incorporating biophilic design elements within your office environment has been proven to enhance creativity, and reduce heart rate and stress levels. Oliver Heath Design, experts in biophilic design, state that productivity can be increased by 8% and rates of well-being up by 13% by having elements of biophilic design within an office environment.
Timber has many attractive aesthetic properties, including colour, figuring, and knots, making it visually appealing in biophilic design. Interior timber cladding is a great way to create a cosy space as humans associate warmth with wood. The acoustic properties of timber help to reduce noise.
How can you introduce biophilic design to your home/office?
It can be as simple as introducing more plants to your surroundings, laying wooden flooring or installing internal timber cladding. At Russwood, we recently worked alongside Innerspace Cheshire to create moss & timber panels to display in our Newtonmore office and meeting room. The moss has been preserved using eco-friendly materials and requires virtually no maintenance. We combined the moss with a variety of our timbers, to display our company values.
If you are looking to introduce timber internally, Russwood offers various interior timber cladding options to suit any aesthetic. Whether it’s our Lunawood Collection with attractive knots and figuring, or Kurowood which offers a charred effect, our Flooring and Interior Cladding sales team will be able to advise what works best for your project.
To find out more about our interior cladding range, get in touch with our Flooring and Interior cladding sales team.