Biophilic Design: How To Incorporate Plants Into Your Office Interior

 

Biophilic design is a popular concept in the building industry that focuses on connecting building occupants to nature. To create a true biophilia-inspired workspace, it takes a bit more than placing potted plants on the odd desk—there’s so much more you can do to incorporate plants into your workspace design.

Having plants in an office is more than just a trend and can in fact have many benefits, from improving employee mental health and productivity to cleaner air and even reducing noise levels. Some of the biggest names in business swear by biophilic design, including Amazon, who built their own rainforest-inspired office.

Incorporating greenery into your office design is an important step for any company looking to create a positive and welcoming environment.

In this blog we’ll be taking you through our favourite ideas to help bring the outside in.

Living Walls

While living walls tend to be larger-scale pieces, they can certainly make a lasting impression no matter how big or small. A living wall is a statement trend that has gained popularity in recent years and continues to impress both designers and employees alike.

The living wall can give your office or reception the ‘wow’ factor to create a lasting impression on clients, visitors and employees. Serving as both an aesthetically pleasing feature and a talking point, it can help attract potential employees who view it as a sign that you care about your workplace.

There are plenty of options and styles for those looking to create their own statement wall. Whether you prefer larger jungle plants, alpines, a floral look or even a simple moss moment, this feature is extremely versatile and can be adapted to your personal taste.

Living walls can also double up as partitions to help separate areas in your office. Incorporating plants into your office design can serve as both beautiful and practical. If you’d like to know what this could look like, take a look at the design and fit-out project we completed for Quint Events’ work space.

 

Floating Baskets

If you’re worried about losing floor space, why not get creative?

Take your plants to a whole new level with hanging or ‘floating’ baskets. Much like living walls,  green ceilings make the most of your vertical space and are a great alternative for those concerned about clutter.

Using baskets to display greenery is an emerging trend in interior design and makes a great office focal point. They can fill empty space and are perfect for making the most of high ceilings.

Our top tip for hanging your plants is to suspend them at different heights to create a relaxed and more natural impression.

Unsure about watering? If committing to the maintenance of plants is a concern for you, opting for replica plants can create the same look with minimal care.

Kitchen Herb Planters

Small but effective, kitchen herb planters encourage your employees to engage with the plants around them and can help promote a sense of achievement when herbs flourish.

Not only does it  give your staff the option to season their food with fresh herbs on their lunch break, nurturing the plants can also help staff strike up conversations and inspire new hobbies.

A herb garden can be easily installed as a wall feature or on a stand of its own and can make a great addition to your interior design. There are lots of options to choose from but we’d recommend including herbs commonly used in salads and on classic lunch dishes such as chives, basil and parsley.

A herb planter is a quirky office perk that’ll set you apart from other employers and get current employees involved with office life.

Rooftop Gardens

Don’t forget, it’s not all about your internal workspace!

If you’re fortunate enough to have your own outdoor area, don’t neglect it.

Outdoor areas where your staff take a break or you take clients for meetings are the perfect opportunity to add some colour and make a great impression.

Creating an area of lush greenery can help people relax and make the most of good weather.

With outdoor space you can get even more creative – some of our favourite ideas include wisteria growing up around a pergola seating area, vegetable gardens for staff to tend to in their free time or perhaps as part of a club and rockeries as an outdoor focalpoint.

Getting some fresh air and natural light can also boost performance and mental wellbeing so why not make it an enjoyable space?

Potted Plants

Our final favourite is something we’re all accustomed to, the classic potted floor or desk plant.

This option is arguably the simplest option of the bunch, but is nevertheless, just as effective.

If the choice of plants and placements are both carefully considered, even a small change can have a huge positive effect. Even placing a variety of small potted plants on a table or desk can add some colour to your employees’ workspaces.

We recommend a combination of larger floor plants to fill those bare spaces. You could even utilise pots that match your wall or company colours to create a cohesive style that matches your overall office design.

If you’re worried about maintaining them while staff are away or the office is closed for the holidays, you might want to consider some of the more durable options. We’ve previously discussed our top plants for offices if you’d like our recommendations.

 

Or if this still sounds intimidating, you could opt for an artificial plant – but be careful, we’ve all accidentally watered a plastic plant before!

Office design is much more than picking colours for carpets and furniture. Even the smallest of details can have priceless benefits on employee mental health and productivity.

Investing in your office design demonstrates your commitment to your team and staff members are much more likely to work hard for a business that tends to their wellbeing.

If you’d like more information about how smart office design can improve your business, why not explore more of our blogs?

Whether you’re relocating to new offices, or would like to refresh your current working space, McFeggan Brown can help you achieve your business goals with expert design knowledge and years of experience in delivering beautiful, innovative designs.

You can get in touch to book a consultation or take a look at our previous work.