Catie is the Director of Projects at Terrapin and a leader in biophilic design movement. With a background in urban green infrastructure, Catie's interest lies in systems thinking to address human health and sustainability challenges at each scale of the built environment.
| 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
| The long-time coming second edition of The Economics of Biophilia is finally here for us all to geek out on! Through support from Interface, we at Terrapin are very excited to release this new report. In 2012, we set out to share with the industry the great potential of biophilic design. We sought to provide […] — 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
| 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
| The eco-chimneys are part of the Capitol Crossing eco-district, a bold urban infill project that spans more than three blocks and captures the air rights above an existing stretch of interstate I-395 in downtown Washington, DC. Project developers the Property Group Partners (formerly Louis-Dreyfus Property Group) sought Terrapin’s unique perspective to provide the sustainability strategies […] — 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
| 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
| 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
| A new “Frontiers” publication on biophilic design, climate resilience and performance parameters for healthy built environment. — Read More
| Inspired by Interface’s pioneering CEO Ray Anderson, who asked whether his factories could ever perform like a forest, “Factory as a Forest” is an ambitious project aimed at redesigning a manufacturing facility to function similarly to the local forest ecosystem. Terrapin, together with Biomimicry 3.8, co-developed a rigorous framework with specific performance targets and strategies […] — Read More
| With the collaboration of ARP-Astrance and Gondwana, the 14 Patterns of Biophilic Design is now also 14 Modèles de Conception Biophilique! — Read More
| In an effort to expedite the broad adoption of biophilic design, I’ve been exploring ways to build evidence and communicate success of industry-relevant biophilic design precedents. These are early thoughts on how we might go about filling knowledge gaps, proving the intuitively obvious, and establishing emotional connections to the built environment. — Read More
| Terrapin led an environmental opportunities charrette and continues to guide the ambitious sustainability efforts of this 118-story tower. — Read More
| Applying the Mystery pattern to spaces can create a user experience ripe with intrigue and creativity that enhances other biophilic interventions. — Read More
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