Biophilia
Net Zero Buildings Explored: International House Sydney, Australia
March 28th, 2024Recording: The Value of Smartness
October 20th, 2022
The Digital Building Lives In An Analog World
“The world we live in is analog. We are analog. Any inputs we can perceive are analog. For example, sounds are analog signals; they are continuous time and continuous value. Our ears listen to analog signals and we speak with analog signals. Images, pictures, and video are all analog at the source and our eyes […]
Smart Cities Can Become Ecological Cities Through Biomorphic Urbanism
When British explorer Henry Hudson first sailed up the Muhheakantuck River in 1609 he would have seen native Lenape settlements dotted across a vast natural island landscape that would later be known as Manhattan Island. Fast forward 400-years and that island has become one of the least natural places in the world. The dense grid […]
“As Buildings Evolve, Elevators can also Evolve in Ways we have Not Seen Before”
Office workers in New York City spend a cumulative 5.9 years, per year, in elevators, according to an IBM study. The research showed that NYC office workers spend a further 16.6 years, per year, waiting for those elevators, meaning a cumulative of 22.5 years of potentially productive work time is wasted in the elevator process. […]
Google’s Sidewalk Labs is Building a Building Factory in Toronto
When Google’s sister company, Sidewalk Labs, “released” its leaked master plan for the Toronto quayside development it was met with mixed reviews. For those staunchly against increased corporate involvement in public spaces and urban planning, and for those who adore anything Google does, minds were already made up before the plans emerged. However, most people […]
Biophilia is Slowly Seeping into Smart Building Design
Biophilia is a growing and loosely defined topic within the smart workplace evolution. It relates to humans’ intrinsic need for nature but is often symbolized by the simple addition of indoor plants or photographs of nature on the walls, and therefore is often not given a significant amount of attention by facility management. However, the […]
Google Goes Underground with its Toronto Smart City Project
Biophilic Design: The Natural Approach To Smart Buildings
A recent survey commissioned by Ambius found that 35% of office workers don’t get more than 15 minutes of outdoor time during their typical workday. A further 13% say they are able to stretch their outdoor time to 30 minutes per day while only 22% manage to spend over an hour outside each day. The […]
Using Nature to Solve the Top Complaint in the Open Office
This article was contributed by Evan Benway & Jonathan Chen from Plantronics. When presented with the opportunity to spend their day indoors or in nature, most individuals would choose the latter. We know that our fundamental attraction to nature is defined by the positive impact nature has on our personal wellbeing, happiness, and restoration. This […]