RDG in the Media: A Holistic Approach to Biophilic Design in Senior Living
RDG’s Lara Slavkin and Jay Weingarten join Terrapin Bright Green’s Catie Ryan to explore how digging deeper into biophilic design interventions can support seniors’ specific health needs.
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 systems. Though the research supporting biophilic design applies fairly universally, 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.
With health outcomes front of mind, leveraging early planning and incorporating small-scale, meaningful interventions can guide the design process and make it easier to achieve these outcomes. In the latest issue of Environments for Aging, RDG Planning & Design Partners Lara Slavkin, IIDA, WELL AP and Jay Weingarten, AIA, WELL AP join Terrapin Bright Green Director Catie Ryan, WELL AP, LEED AP BD+C to explore how incorporating a variety of biophilic design interventions can create engaging residential environments that support seniors’ specific health needs.