October 2020: Amplifying Nature’s Voice

 

Greetings like-minded Nature Advocates,

If I am doing my job well, you’re well aware that GPGB’s core purpose is providing information that will accelerate the adoption of biophilic design.

I believe that we are making progress!

GPGB Registered Trainers are keeping information about the AWEsome benefits of nature in the built environment in front of the A+D community.  To date, even in this COVID era, over 400 plant-specifying professionals have attended virtual presentations of the original Living Walls and newly refreshed Living Walls with Case Studies continuing education courses. Interested in finding a provider? Check this map and look for the red “trainer” button. Interested in becoming a Registered Trainer and making these presentations? Learn more about the program here.

 

A New Project

GPGB is conducting a survey of architects, designers and other building professionals so that we may better understand the barriers they have to specifying interior plants. We partnered with International Living Future Institute who sent the Survey on Biophilic Design: Indoor Plants to their members and newletter readers. We’ll use the results to identify which continuing education topics are needed to accelerate the adoption of biophilic design and share them with you in a future newsletter.

Resources for You

This pandemic-created moment we have collectively having is stimulating my curiosity into overdrive. I’m looking for patterns, explanations, solutions, listening to podcasts, attending seminars and asking questions. For those of us wanting to switch seats and be students for an hour or two, here are links to more resources, plus an infographic you can share to help you make the case for bringing nature indoors.

New Infographic

If you are looking to add to your library of shareable content, AccuratePerforating.com has composed an infographic based on Oliver Heath’s biophilic design materials and is sharing it with you to help you make your case for biophilic design with project decision-makers. You’ll find the infographic here.

New book for your library

Looking to keep up to date on the most recent biophilic design case studies? The latest book by Terrapin Bright Green’s Bill Browning and Catherine Ryan, Nature Inside: A Biophilic Design Guide has just been released. It includes a discussion of biophilic design in nine environments (home, school, retail, office, hotel, hospital, factory, community, and the urban landscape) and the addition of a 15^th pattern to the original 14 Patterns. The 15^th pattern is “awe”, which makes me smile. “Awe” sounds familiar to those of us who gathered around the table in 2018 to wordplay with GPGB’s core purpose of communicating the “AWE”some benefits of nature in the built environment. That’s AWEsome as in Aesthetic, Wellbeing, and Economic.

New course

Another learning opportunity is International Living Institute’s Biophilic Design Course. This two-hour course is accredited by AIA as well as ILFI. Designed to optimize learning online, the course is delivered in micro-learning units, polls and videos. For folks developing a brand around a biophilic design specialty, it includes tips for running biophilic design workshops.

New fun with nature

Got another moment to invest in your well-being? Check out this delightful sound map from Sounds of the Forest. What could be better? Maps, birdsong, and citizen scientists from around the globe crowdsourcing an aural library from nature’s forests.

Thanks to GPGB Supporters, the mission to communicate nature’s benefits is being accomplished. The demand for indoor nature is growing, even in these challenging times, and perhaps because of these challenging times.

If you are not already a Supporter, and if, after first taking care of yourself and your dependents, the spirit moves you, please consider joining GPGB’s mission to increase everyone’s access to nature in the built environment.

#StayPlanted and Be well,

Mary Golden
Advocacy Incubator