Existing frameworks for biophilic design have similar strategies and attributes as useful checklists for designers; however, the focus has been on adults rather than children, and there remains the need for more guidance related to school design by extension. The application of biophilia would be a design resolution in schools because of its impact on children’s health and well-being, which has been more important since the pandemic started; however, it remains quite unexplored in school design in many countries, including the UK. Biophilic design patterns can be used in school buildings and grounds for greater connectivity between spaces and nature in order to promote children’s well-being. This paper focuses on ten biophilic design patterns under two categories of ‘nature in the space’ and ‘natural analogues.’ This study presents the findings of case studies in various countries. The analysis focuses on the manifestations of biophilia to inform the application of biophilic design patterns for primary schools. Finally, this paper suggests how primary school children could be involved in a co-design process in order to evaluate biophilic design patterns.
29 July 2015 in International Journal of Technology
Discourses on the urban interior recently have emerged as a series of provocations and experimentations that highlight the critical understanding of the urban realm from the interiority perspective. In the fast-moving development of modern global cities, the urban interior concept becomes increasingly important. Cities are fast becoming containers for contemporary spatial practice, with urban spaces becoming melting pots of diverse cultures and communities. Viewing urban settings from the interiority perspective allows us to comprehend unique local characters in particular contexts. This issue of Interiority presents a collection of works that illustrate the expanded understanding of the urban interior, especially in relation to cultural and spatial practice in urban contexts. This issue presents multiple perspectives on understanding the urban interior, raising arguments on how its spatial condition could perform as a container of cultural practice, while simultaneously offering possibilities on manoeuvring within the urban interior context through various ways of reading, interpretation and intervention. These perspectives and approaches promise further possibilities to expand our interior architectural practice in responding not only to current contemporary practice, but also to the future of urban inhabitation.
Everyday space is a setting where ordinary acts, activities and events take place. It is interesting to examine closely how interiority is defined, understood and manifested in everyday space as a way to understand the inhabitation of the interior. The interiority of everyday space is defined not only by occupation but also through materiality. This issue of Interiority presents articles that address the relationships between interior materiality and different perceptual constructs and experiences of architectural space as inherent in the occupation of the everyday space.
This paper argues that the ideas of self, waste and space are interconnected and that they influence each other in a society's everyday life. It addresses the issues of belonging and identity to explain how the connection among self, waste and space could determine waste disposal practice. A study in a low-income urban neighbourhood in Jakarta, Indonesia, illustrates how the waste disposal practice in everyday life could be understood in terms of how they are connected to the actors and to the space. The connection among self, waste and space is illustrated through various waste disposal practices in spaces with various degrees of ownership. Waste disposal practices in shared spaces are particularly problematic since these practices occur in the spaces with unclear ownership and unclear boundaries. The findings suggest the need to take into account the understanding of ownership towards waste (‘whose waste?’) as a key aspect in comprehending waste disposal practice in the urban context.