This e-newsletter brings you the latest information and resources on biophilic design, the industry, and GPGB updates. 

Credits: Gensler.com

Gensler Design Forecast 2025 provides an in-depth analysis of upcoming trends and innovations in design across various sectors. It emphasizes sustainability, technology integration, and human-centric design approaches. Key areas include workplace transformation, urban planning, and advancements in hospitality and retail spaces, all aimed at fostering adaptability, community well-being, and environmental responsibility.

Credits: Terrapin Bright Green

To mark a decade of advancing biophilic design, Terrapin Bright Green has released the 10th Anniversary Edition of its ground-breaking report, 14 Patterns of Biophilic Design. First introduced as a framework for integrating nature into built environments, the updated publication reflects the latest research, insights, and a notable addition: a new pattern, Awe.

Bill Browning, founder of Terrapin Bright Green and a leading voice in biophilic design, has long championed the transformative impact of spaces designed with a connection to nature. He explains, “The spaces we inhabit significantly affect our psychological, physiological, and neurological states. Biophilic design aims to create environments where people thrive.”

What’s new in the 10th Anniversary Edition?

• Updated science: The publication features fresh research, including an updated science table that highlights the measurable benefits of biophilic design.
• Enhanced interpretations: Revised perspectives offer deeper insights into how the patterns can be applied across diverse environments, from offices and schools to hospitals and urban developments.
• Awe-inspiring addition: The 15th pattern, Awe, explores stimuli that defy expectations and lead to transformative experiences.
• Expanded resources: New references and resources make this edition more robust and actionable for designers, architects, and employers.

Unlock the secrets to growing your business with the Registered Trainer Program!
In this engaging video call, Sean Campbell of Grundy’s Plantscaping and Rebecca Bakke of Bloom & Flourish dive into how the program works, course details, and best practices. Discover actionable tips from industry leaders, hear insightful success strategies, and get answers to key questions about this game-changing program. Watch now to see how you can elevate your expertise and drive your business forward and stay tuned for the next industry call from GPGB!

Featured Session: GPGB Registered Trainer Seminar and Free CEU
Thursday, January 23 from 3:00-4:30 p.m. Room 303A

EDUCATE, ADVOCATE, AND EMPOWER: No prior teaching or speaking experience is required – only a passion for plants!

GPGB is bringing an AMAZING opportunity to join the Registered Trainer Program. We are offering our Registered Trainer Seminar at no charge to share how the program works, best practices, and why you NEED to be a Registered Trainer to GROW YOUR BUSINESS! All  attendees will receive the How to Specify Living Walls presentation FREE from GPGB!

This in-person event will take place at The Tropical Plant International Expo.

Registered Trainer Seminar Info:

GPGB Registered Trainers have the authority to give CEU credit to designers, architects and building professionals.

REGISTERED TRAINER SELF-STUDY PROGRAMS:

• Moss Walls: A Biophilic Design Solution
• Authentically Green Interiors
• Economics of Biophilic Design
• Advanced Living Walls w/Case Studies
• Living Walls: An Introduction
• Green Roofs
• Biophilic Design in Fitwel, the WELL Building Standard, & the Living Building Challenge
• How to Specify Living Walls
• Nature’s Blueprint: Unleashing the Power of Biophilic Design

Courses include:
-A Trainer’s Guide
-PowerPoints with compelling photographs and Speakers’ Notes
-White Papers
-All the forms for your CEU presentations
-Public speaking tips
-Ongoing, year-long support

Our self-study courses will give you the necessary credentials, training, and authority to get in front of architects, landscape architects, designers, building owners and managers, and LEED APs to educate them about the many health and productivity benefits of plants in our built environments.

Your organization must be a GPGB Supporter for you to become a Registered Trainer. An annual fee of $250 per Registered Trainer is required to present GPGB programs for continued education credits. This fee is used to develop additional presentation material on existing and additional topics. Our self-study courses may be purchased for $225 each or $495 for the entire bundle! Supporters at a Biophilic Enthusiast level or higher receive unlimited access to GPGB slide decks and free Registered Trainer(s). View Supporter Level Summary.

BOMA International has an opportunity for you! Thanks to the BOMA Foundation’s J. Michael Coleman Scholarship, you can save big on advancing your career. Join us in Boston from June 28 – July 1 where there are thousands of CRE professionals and vendors ready to help you take that next step in your career! Up to 10 recipients will be chosen to receive:

• Complimentary conference registration
• $1000 to be used towards travel and other conference related expenses
• A unique track of education sessions and networking events geared towards emerging professionals

• Marketing & Communications
• Supporter Development
• Education & Professional Development

GPGB is making a difference and it’s all thanks to our valued supporters. Our supporter’s participation and contribution is greatly appreciated not only by us, but by everyone in the industry.

Credit: Oasis Plants UK
Location: AQA Manchester

Oasis Plants worked with Claremont to supply the extensive planting and greenery to this iconic workplace, the AQA northern headquarters in Manchester.

The office centers around an octagonal pillar which was built in 1962 and very few alterations have been made in the 60 years since…until now!

AQA wanted to invest in their building to bring it up to date with their new way of working. This also included a focus on:

– Wellbeing
– Sustainability
– Hybrid and smart working
– Accessibility
– Inclusivity

Oasis Plants UK role was to supply over 120 metres of biophilia to the newly updated premises to promote feelings of wellbeing and a relaxed, tonal aesthetic. The planting also helps create an acoustic barrier throughout the open plan areas, helping to promote productivity and a sense of calm.

Read more here.

Credits, Location, and Photography: 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay

The lush island of Kaua‘i is nicknamed the “Garden Isle” with good reason: Countless plant species blanket its mountain slopes and shorelines. But arguably no flora on Kaua‘i, known for its balmy climate, quite resembles the wintry Christmas tree of popular imagination.

Small business owners, Mona Garcia and Rachel Rollins, recently led an effort to display the best of both worlds through a project benefitting a local school. With collaborators, they constructed an approximately 10-foot-tall tree made with wooden crates containing 130 specimens of at least 12 tropical plant species, including assorted ferns and succulents, anthurium, pink quill and pothos.

“I love that we get to create a little bit of that magic that brings people joy and happiness,” said Rollins, owner of Rachel Whitney Weddings. Rollins and fellow wedding planner Mona Garcia, of Aloha Fridays, partnered with local vendors Sunrise Blooms, Milianani Kaua‘i and Blaze Entertainment to create the tree that can be seen near the concierge desk at 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay. St. Theresa School in Kekaha will receive the tree’s wooden crates and 130 plants.

Read more here.

Want to Help Keep Nature in the News?

Everything we accomplish happens because people like you are stepping forward and supporting GPGB’s focus on having conversations with the building professionals who can #BringNatureIndoors.

If the spirit moves you, please consider supporting our work by making a donation.