ISTD module file

ISTD BIOPHILIA MARIA WINDSOR

Digital Outcomes ISTD DEVELOPMENT L I N K : h t t p s : // p u b h t m l 5 . c o m / b o o k c a s e / t s b d ISTD PUBLICATION L I N K : h t t p s : // p u b h t m l 5 . c o m / b o o k c a s e / z g a u 2 ISTD

Contents INTRODUCTION MOODBOARDS  INITIAL AREAS OF INTEREST  INITIAL DESIGN EXPERIMENTS DESIGN DEVELOPMENT  RESEARCH PUBLICATION REVIEW  3 ISTD

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INTRODUCTION 5 ISTD

BIO.PHIL.IA NOUN : B A I . Ə Ʊ ˈ F I L . I . Ə Love of living things and nature, which some people believe humans are born with: Biophilia, the inborn affinity human beings have for other forms of life. 6 ISTD

WHAT IS BIOPHILIA The term biophilia was made popular by the American ecologist Edward O Wilson in the 1980’s, in simple terms the concept of biophilia refers a love of nature, originating from the Greek word ‘Philia’ meaning an affectionate love, when linked with bio it becomes a love of life/living organisms. In its truest form biophilia denotes that humankind has a genetic connection with the natural world around it, one which stems from the ruralist lifestyles of their ancestors. In his 1993 book ‘Biophilia and the Conservation Ethic’ Wilson describes biophilia as an “innate emotional affiliation of human beings to other living organisms”. The naturalist, philosopher Henry David Thoreau wrote that “We need the tonic of wildness—to wade sometimes in marshes where the bittern and the meadow-hen lurk, and hear the booming of the snipe; to smell the whispering sedge where only some wilder and more solitary fowl builds her nest, and the mink crawls with its belly close to the ground” The theory of biophilia show that humankind not only loves nature but are genetically predisposed to need it. Humankind came from wilderness, living in the arms of mother earth and father sky, with traditions that guided their existence. Thousands of years of urbanism have tamed humanity, but there is a desire for a reconnection with nature. Biophilia is lazy walks in the countryside, finding kinship with flora and fauna, wonderment in secret gardens and peace in the rusting of the trees. The human soul longs for the connection, Biophilia is restorative, healing and nurturing. 7 ISTD

WHY IS BIOPHILIA IMPORTANT Wilson suggested that most people living in the Western society were most likely suffering a form of deprivation because of a lack of natural stimuli due to rising rates of urbanisation. The World Health Organisation state that stress related illness, such as mental health disorders and cardio-vascular disease are connected the increased pressures of urban life and the lack of opportunity to spend time in nature Technically, nature is all around us, but the quality of interaction with nature has changed, more people are living in urban environments, and its estimated by 2050 two-thirds of the world’s population will be living in built-up areas, research shows that humankind is spending a large amount of time separated from nature, in the range of 90% of our time is spent indoors or commuting. Wilson believed that contact with the natural world was essential for normal mental development, this is why biophilia is of such importance to the health and well-being of humankind. Studies have shown the positive benefits of interaction with nature, these include lower levels of stress, improved productivity and learning and even improved recovery rates following illnesses. 8 ISTD

“In every walk with nature we receive Iar more than we seek” JOHN MUIR

BIOPHILIC DESIGN Biophilic design integrates the wellness that is experienced from being in nature and brings it into the urban environment, creating spaces that boost mood, productivity and wellbeing, aligning the indoors and outdoors. Biophilic design makes interiors that are multi- sensory, bringing together elements that have a positive impact of the inhabitants, those include sustainable organic materials, air purifying plants, water features, fluid landscaping and enhancing the access to natural light and views of nature. Research has shown that the use of biophilic design can reduce stress, lower blood pressure and heart rates, whilst also increasing productivity, creativity and wellbeing. In 1984 a study by Roger Ulrich stated that healthcare patients given a view of nature recovered faster than those with a view of a brick wall, this goes to show how important biophilic design is. Biophilia plays a key part to the wellbeing of humankind. 10 ISTD

Environmental features Natural shapes and forms Natural patterns and processes Light and space Place-based relationships Evolved human-nature relationships 11 ISTD

WHY ARE WE SO DRIVEN TOWARDS NATURE? “From a genetic standpoint, we are hunter-gatherers from 40000 years ago: our biology hasn’t much changed from it. We a re m e a n t t o l i ve i n n a t u re .” 12 ISTD

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MOOD BOARDS 15 ISTD

BIOP 16 ISTD

PHILIA 17 ISTD

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INITIAL AREAS OF INTEREST 23 ISTD

INITIAL AREA OF INTEREST Sacred geometry in nature Artforms in nature Microscopic nature Biophilia patterns Flower and seed forms 24 ISTD

SACRED GEOMETRY 25 ISTD

ARTFORMS IN NATURE 26 ISTD

MICROSCOPIC NATURE 27 ISTD

BIOPHILIA PATTERNS 28 ISTD

SEED AND FLOWER FORMS 29 ISTD

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INITIAL DESIGN EXPERIMENTS 31 ISTD

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My first idea was based on the photography of Karl Blossfeldt. I started with drawing some versions of the flower forms. This were useful for working out ideas, but I didn’t progress with drawing, instead moving the idea to a digital format. The examples shown were made by masking and layering sections of flower forms. Some of the letter forms were more successful that others, I think the ‘A’ is a lovely looking shape, but the ‘I’ wasn’t very successful, I introduced a green line on the ‘I’ and ‘L’, that line does not completement the other letters. I think the idea could work with a bit of tweaking, perhaps reusing the same flower form throughout would have created a more unified look. 33 ISTD

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My second idea was using a repeated section of the Flower of Life geometry pattern, for the purpose of explaining I’m calling this section seeds. The idea is rather simple, the seed shape used throu- ghout in different arrangements. Again, I started the design by sketching out a few ideas before digitali- sing it. I wasn’t over the moon with this design, but I felt it worked better than the Blossfeldt one. Originally I thought the design was too simplistic, now I think it is an okay design, and given the right settings it could be a usable font. 35 ISTD

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This idea was my favourite of the three, it is based on a maple tree seed pod, the one that fly around like little helicopters. They are a lovely natural form. I started by sketching the pods, then drawing them in different arrangements, the shape of the pods worked well in making letter forms. As with the other designs, once I had a good starting-point I moved to working digitally. I wasn’t happy with the quality of the drawings once they were uploaded, so I found an open-source image of maple pods and worked with that to design the letter forms. What I came up with was a good starting point, I was pleased with the way the letter forms looked, however, I couldn’t happily base a font on open- source images, if it was to work as a successful design outcome I would have to develop the shapes, moving away from them being a direct copy of maple seed pods. 37 ISTD

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DESIGN DEVELOPMENT 39 ISTD

Te s t i n g h o w t h e m a p l e p o d i d e a l o o k s i n p r i n t 40 ISTD

The outcome is okay, but it looks like something a child could have designed, the poster would Probably look better without it 41 ISTD

Developing maple pod idea 42 ISTD

attemping to make them more abstract 43 ISTD

Te s t i n g h o w t h e d e v e l o p e d version looks in print 44 ISTD

It's better than the last version, but still needs work 45 ISTD

I wanted to see how I could further develop the maple pod idea. I took an existing font, Modesto Open Inline- Fill and expanded it into outlines. From here I used the maple pod shape as a template and reshaped the font with the pen tool. 46 ISTD

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These are two examples of amendments I made to the idea. For most of the letters I had kept the outer line straight, but for a couple of letters the outer line was curved. Look- ing at the letters together I didn’t like the mixture, I want- ed to make all the outer lines straight - to create a fluidity between the letters. 48 ISTD

The ‘H’ had some minor amendments, the ‘M’ I redesigned completely. In both cases I think the amendments look better than the original, the ‘M’ now has a more elegant art nouveau form. I h ave s i n ce n ot i ce d t h a t t h e ‘A’, ‘ I ’ a n d ‘ L’ a re s t i l l c u r v y and the 'x' is more prominent than most of the letters. I think the ‘I’ has a pleasing organic shape, that one works well with the other letters, The 'L' also works as a fluid organic shape. The ‘A’ and 'X' are the least fluid letters, however I have decided not to re-edit them, there is variety in nature. 49 ISTD

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