Saw this essay at the AIA website.It's by Alex Wilson Executive Editor of Environmental Building News, and is a good overview of the issue of Biophilic Building Design.
The Urban Land Institute also had a good supporting piece.
While the research further defining the emerging art and science of green building is evolving, some developers are using their intuition and early biophilic knowledge to bring connections to nature into their projects now. Angelo Tsakopoulos, a developer who runs AKT Development in Sacramento with his daughter, is an outspoken promoter of nature-based design and of Richard Louv’s recent book Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder, which describes the growing disconnection between today’s electronically plugged-in kids and the wildness of nature. Tsakopoulos has given nearly 200 copies of the book to leaders in Sacramento and is working to weave these biophilic strategies into AKT’s community developments by promoting habitat and open-space preservation.
Yale's Stephen Kellert has written a book on this topic and held a conference last year on the topic. Robin Moore at NC State is also doing fine work. There are fine case studies out there. We'd like to see a list of best practices to accelerate the usefullness of this good work.
