| A special issue of Architecture entitled, “Biophilic School Design for Health and Wellbeing”, Terrapin’s Bill Browning teamed up with Jim Determan of Craig Gaulden Davis Architecture to explore the results from the yearlong study of biophilic measures in a sixth grade mathematics classroom in Baltimore. Those results influenced the design of the new Bethel-Hanberry elementary […] — Read More
| Every once in a great while, a completed project is even better than the architectural renderings. When that happens, it is an absolute thrill. This delight and joy is what we experienced when walking through the newly rebuilt terminal core of Portland Oregon’s PDX International Airport. PDX has for many years been the top-rated airport […] — Read More
| British Columbia (BC), Canada’s westernmost province, has a centuries-old tradition of wood construction by the First Nations of the region. Their round houses and planked long houses made great use of the giant western red cedar and the fine-grained yellow cedar. For BC’s largest city, Vancouver, timber exports were the basis of its original economy. […] — Read More
| If you think libraries are just musty repositories of old books, then you will need to think again. Libraries have become economic development centers, community gathering places, media production facilities and much more. This August, as part of the Executive Education Program at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Jeffrey Hoover, Director of Library […] — Read More
| The administration at the University of California Santa Barbara finally realized that the emperor had no clothes and cancelled the mostly windowless Munger Hall,1 but the fight for natural light and air continues. The monstrous dorm would have sentenced over 4,000 students to bedrooms with no windows, creating a potentially disastrous living experience. In location near […] — Read More
| Designing with nature could be described as an industry response to health and wellbeing trends. But there is a history and science to this practice known as ‘biophilic design’. Biophilia is the innate connection between humans and nature. Biophilic design is the expression of those experiences of nature for a healthier built environment. Since our […] — Read More
| Agrihoods, neighborhoods that incorporate food production into their design, have been getting more attention in the residential development world. In many cases, these projects are conventional sprawl with a tiny community garden or orchard. Whereas, in their truest form, agrihoods weave food production into the design and experiential fabric of their communities in much more […] — Read More
| A man to whom Terrapin owes much of our passion and focus passed away last month. Edward O. Wilson made multiple contributions to science and society. His focus on ants and their behaviors led to a sometimes controversial exploration of innate vs learned behavior in other species—sociobiology, a field in which he was a pioneer. […] — Read More
| Why we love wood may be ingrained in us. Terrapin’s new report is a deep dive into what this biophilic connection is all about. Wood is making a comeback in the built environment and, though most often covered by media for presenting an opportunity to reduce carbon footprints in building construction, awareness of the physiological […] — Read More
| Over the years I have noticed that while good ideas come and go, truly bad ideas take on a life of their own. Some ideas even move into the realm of what Amory Lovins calls ‘spherically stupid’—stupid from any direction you look. Billionaire Charlie Munger is giving the University of California Santa Barbara $200 million […] — Read More
| The 21-story office building on P Street in Sacramento was a design-build project with AC Martin Architects and Turner Construction for the California Department of General Services (DGS). The building was designed to host about 3,450 employees from eight state agencies, and intended to be net-zero energy. With Glumac Engineering, Terrapin co-facilitated an Integrative Design Opportunities […] — Read More
| This feature is a follow up to Bill’s previous post on The Journey of Sustainability. 1 September 2021 Thirty years ago today, Amory and Hunter Lovins, over the objections of some of the Rocky Mountain Institute’s board of directors, allowed a 29-year-old to launch a new program to work with real estate developers to make […] — Read More
| The green building movement and arguably the larger discussion about sustainability have progressed in scope and understanding over the last three decades. Terrapin staff have been at the heart of this journey. In retrospect, this progression can be understood as three distinct levels of sustainability, each with their own focus, and with direct and indirect benefits […] — Read More
| The Portland International Airport (PDX) is a joint civil–military airport and the largest airport in the state of Oregon, accounting for 90% of the state’s passenger air travel and more than 95% of its air cargo. The site is bordered by the Columbia River in the north and the Columbia Slough in the south with […] — Read More
| Designing with nature could be described as an industry response to health and wellbeing trends. But there is a history and science to this practice known as ‘biophilic design’. Biophilia is the innate connection between humans and nature. Biophilic design is the expression of those experiences of nature for a healthier built environment. Since our […] — Read More
| Terrapin is proud to release its newest publication, “The Nature of Air: Economic & Bio-Inspired Perspectives on Indoor Air Quality Management” — Read More
| A lot has happened over this past year, both around the world and within the arena of biophilic design. Since publishing our latest book, Nature Inside, and our current effort to craft a second edition of The Economics of Biophilia, we’ve revisited our reading list to reflect on the most recent thinking. Many of these […] — Read More
| Disaster resilience has focused primarily on the physical characteristics and resource provisions of a home. How might we incorporate psychological resilience into design? — Read More
| This February, Terrapin welcomes Rita Trombin for a short-term residency, in collaboration with ILFI, to help continue Terrapin’s efforts to provide the design community with practical tools for biophilic design application. The focus of Rita’s residency will be on developing foundational materials for designing with fractals. This idea was born out of the Greenbuild 2019 […] — Read More
| A “New Design Ideas” article on biophilic design and the future of architectural education. — Read More
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