Designer Insights: The Future of Offices
Vol.12 Creating Biophilic Spaces through Photography
WORK VILLA YAESU and the flow of water
At the Yaesu building, this approach was taken a step further.
kivi collaborated with Goldwin National Parks Adventure, an initiative through which Goldwin Inc. supports national parks across Japan, and selected works from photographs taken as part of the initiative.
The photographs selected were from Rishiri-Rebun-Sarobetsu National Park, Yoshino-Kumano National Park and Akan Mashu National Park. They are works by photographer Hinano Kimoto.
When selecting the photographs, the team also considered their connection with the architecture and landscape. Hearing about the landscape concept during the interview, they arrived at “flow of water” as a focus, and proposed photographs featuring scenery such as waterfalls and valleys.
When the large-scale nature photographs were placed indoors, they created a unique sensation.
“Although you are indoors, you feel like you are viewing something far away, or that you somehow find yourself absorbed in the photograph. We received all kinds of impressions from the people working there”, the team explains.
Photos have a “far away”
A wall in reality, yet it appears as though a forest or valley continues beyond it. It offers a point of contact with nature through the depth of the viewer’s gaze, in a way that is different from simply placing plants in a space.
There is still more to this project. Placing photographs of national parks in the office is not where it ends. There is also the aim to take workers out into the real nature within those photographs.
Through this project, Goldwin is working to communicate not only the nature found in national parks, but also the history and culture of the local communities that have been nurtured alongside that nature. As part of this collaboration, Goldwin will also develop corporate package programmes in national parks, including environmental and outdoor education and team-building activities. Workers see nature in the office, develop an interest in it, and finally visit an actual national park and experience nature for themselves. Afterwards, they return to the city and get back to work.
Biophilic design, which had previously focused on “bringing” nature into the office, is now expanding in the opposite direction, to the point of taking people out of the office and into nature. It is also creating new connections between companies.
From “what to place” to “how to connect”
Of course, plants have their place. The example in this report is also a workplace that actively incorporates plants into its architecture and landscape. As such, this is not a question of choosing either plants or photographs.
You can feel nature through plants. Photographs draw your gaze towards nature far in the distance. Materials and light evoke nature. And sometimes, you can leave the office and go out into real nature. Seen this way, it is alright for biophilic design to be more flexible and varied. The question we arrive at is not “how many plants have we placed in the office?”, but “how can we connect the people who work here with nature?”.
This initiative using nature photography demonstrates how biophilic design is expanding from a method of incorporating nature into the workplace into a way of thinking that seeks to design the relationship between people and nature itself.
Miki Homma／Lifestyle Journalist
After gaining experience in the editorial department of the interior design magazine Shitsunai, Miki Homma became an independent journalist. She has been involved in reporting, writing, seminars and various other activities related to furniture, interior design, architecture, kitchen design and more. Ms Homma has conducted numerous interviews overseas in Germany, Italy and other countries. Her published works include “Real Kitchen & Interior”, “Real Living & Interior”, and "Interior Kitchens That Change Your Life" (Shogakukan).