Biophilia in Architecture for better living
Abode - Result Story
The Biophilia hypothesis outlines a fundamental tendency in human beings to be attracted to nature and emulate its processes and structures in everyday life. Some biophilia advocates even believe that humans have developed a lifestyle far removed from what may be considered natural, and biophilic design may foster happiness and well-being among us. Thus, when applied to architecture, it is indeed a welcome call for more sustainable and human-centric design.
Modern lifestyles seem to have not only taken a toll on our mental well-being but our cities as well. As a result of the density/space paradigm, most of them have transformed into vast concrete jungles, resulting in increasingly reduced avenues for human interaction with nature. However, Biophilia in buildings, when applied correctly, serves much more than mere aesthetics. Despite its immensely therapeutic impacts in workplaces, where biophilic design has yielded tangible positive impacts on employee productivity, well-being, and mental health, the proliferation of Biophilia as a practice, especially in residences where we inevitably end up spending the most time in our lives, remains severely limited. As a result, most of us make do with a single residence throughout our life, that too one lacking natural provisions that constitute a better quality of life.
The challenge is to design a residential tower with 75 housing units on the site provided, incorporating biophilic design principles. The size of the unit is homogenized to a 2.5 BHK unit (2 Bedrooms + 2 Bathrooms + Hall + Kitchen + Study) so that the design’s clear impetus is on biophilia.
The design is intended to improve the quality of life of its residents while providing them more opportunities to personally engage with nature is about to improve their mental health and relieve stress. More so, the design challenge urges designers to look beyond simply designing towers with vertical vegetation by engaging with all the principles of biophilic design holistically, including making and strengthening a connection with many aspects of nature through natural light, views of nature, plants, natural materials, textures, and patterns. All of these holistically combine to create a biophilic design and that is what the challenge wishes to manifest.
The jury for the competition consisted of esteemed designers, professionals, and academicians from around the world. The Lead Jurors for the competitions were as follows:
Francisco Gonzalez Pulido, Founder / CEO / Design Director, FGP Atelier, United States
Rodrigo Carazo, Founder/Principal, Carazo Arquitectura, Costa Rica
Michel Da Costa Goncalves, Lead Architect / Co-director, DROO — Da Costa Mahindroo Architects, United Kingdom
Matteo Inches, Partner / Owner, Inches Geleta Architetti, Switzerland
Benjamin G. Saxe, Founder & Design Director, Studio Saxe, Costa Rica
Some of the Best of competition projects as follows:
Winning Project: Cloudburst Forest ('暴雨森林')
By: Salman Faris
Description: Hong Kong's first biophilic 'plyscraper' A residential skyscraper that brings the deforested sub-tropical rainforest back into the city by having different elements and vegetation of a rain-forest. Also, the very first wooden skyscraper in the dense concrete jungle skyline of Hong Kong.
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People’s Choice: The Urban Anchor
By: Revathi Ramakrishnan, Pallavi Nagarajan & Prabhu Raj
Description: Anchoring the habitat and nature to the vessel
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Institutional Excellence: Abode
By: Majo Garcia
Description: The design is based on a sequential concept that allows for a significant impact beyond the site context. Regarding Biophilia's primary purpose of providing human wellness, the project focuses on fulfilling several personal engagement instances with nature through modular customizable design.
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Editor’s Choice: re:connect
By: Mia Hjaere & Martina Bazzoni
Description: This project challenges to design a 75 housing unit residential tower in the center of Hong Kong. The proposal aims to improve the quality of the residents' lives and their wellbeing through a combination of biophilic elements and a strong consideration for sustainability.
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Editor’s Choice: Symbiosis
By: Nonna Iankevich
Description: A residential building based in Hong Kong (China) - It's run by the ideas of Biophilia and community housing.
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Editor’s Choice: SOUL HUG
By: Eva Esmeralda Peña García, Valeria Gallegos & Jorge Islas Sánchez
Description: Biophilic design spanning throughout each space of the whole architectural project.
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Editor’s Choice: Introspective
By: Isabella Molina
Description: Introspective is an idea that highlights the importance of interaction with others in the community while also taking the time to be alone to reflect. It is defined as, “observing one’s mental state and examining one’s soul.” Being introspective is essential to reaching a high level of confidence and well-being.
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Editor’s Choice: Bamboo Tower
By: Hao Wang & Hancheng Zhang
Description: 天人合一 (tiān rén hé yī) is Chinese philosophical teaching of harmony between man & nature, often overlooked by many in this technology-saturated age. In response to this ever eroding quality of our built environment, we aspire to reintroduce the long lost affiliation of humankind’s innate biological connection with nature through bamboo and architecture.
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Editor’s Choice: The Gradient
By: Puthida Sea, Naykun Nak, Kimrath Sao & Darareaksmey Chan
Description: "Sprouting out of the Concrete Jungle" A Biophilic Residential Tower that aims to serve all kinds and types of occupants, taking into consideration environmental, and economical issues. A versatile, welcoming, natural residential complex that enables people to adore biodiversity "gradually".
Discover the design brief here: https://uni.xyz/competitions/abode/info/about/
Discover the full results here: https://uni.xyz/competitions/abode/entries/
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