Panel Discussion
I have finalised all of the panellists for this discussion in securing 4 experts in biophilic and biomimetic designs. I have been very fortunate to recently secure Vanessa Champion for the panel who is the editor of the Journal of Biophilic design; which collates, articles, research, podcasts and videos around the latest in biophilia. Consequently, I am very excited to hear from her in the discussion as well as all of the other brilliant panellists. I will post an in-depth update on the panel and the prompts that will be utilised in my next blog post.
The Marylebone Hotel
I have recently followed up with Simon (Executive Head Chef at The Marylebone Hotel) to check in on whether there has been any progress on the ideas I proposed to him after our meeting a few weeks ago. Simon responded to inform me that the general manager of the hotel has been away on holiday over the past weeks and so my proposal will be reviewed over the coming week or so to look at hopefully hosting an event or experience in the hotel around September time. This is very promising for the future of my project and presents a very positive future and trajectory for where this work can be taken both in the near future but also past the point of the masters.
Chelsea College of Arts
I have also spoken with Dashnor at Chelsea College of Arts. I have been unable to host an iteration of my Herb Event at Chelsea in the form of another natural event or experience, due to summer holidays of staff and differing availabilities. This has been a slight change in my plans, as I would have liked to have another iteration of the herb event completed before the hand in for unit 2. However, I realise when working with external and large stakeholders it is something I have been unable to control. Therefore, I have now diverted my attention to other interventions I have developed over the independent study period such as my panel discussions with biophilic experts across the world and my online sharing group; which can be presented alongside my initial Herb Event.
Regarding Chelsea, there is still a very promising future, as I am looking to host another intervention in the café area in September that develops as an iteration of the herb event. This event will take the best parts of the Herb Event and build upon it to develop something new to connect customers to nature. I am also looking to host my technobiophilic intervention at the Chelsea canteen when they open the area in late September/ early October.
Stakeholder Meeting – to discuss most effective ways to develop tehcnobiophillic events
I have contacted several experts to discuss how best to fuse the use of technology with creating natural events and experiences in hospitality spaces. All stakeholders have been briefed about the status of my project so far, the aims of my work and future goals for the venture. Although these meetings are designed to allow for collaboration with experts to help to develop the most effective technobiophilic event possible for the Chelsea canteen space; I have informed them that any other ideas around my project in how to connect people to nature in hospitality spaces are more than welcome to brought to the table and be discussed.
Experts collaborating with:
I have been speaking with Sue Thomas, who is a pioneer in the field of technobiophilia (see previous posts ‘technobiophilia; analysing her work). I am very excited to hear from Sue and work with her to develop engaging and innovative ways to bring nature together with technology. I am also interested to explore different ways to measure a change in people’s connection to nature utilising technology with her, as this is something she touches on in some of her written works. For instance, utilising sports watches to measure heart rates and changes in them dependant on connection to nature. Something similar could be very interesting to utilise in my work if possible.
I have also asked Kristina Libby if she would be interested in speaking further on technobiophilic events with me in a zoom meeting. This is due to her contributions in the first panel being centred around utilsing technology with nature; and her background in tech. She very kindly said she would love to work with me in developing these ideas further and so we have a meeting on Monday to discuss this.
Additionally, Hedi Lenaertz has also agreed to a meeting to develop ideas around technobiophilia events and experiences. Hedi is an experienced consultant, designer and keynote speaker on biophilic design. Therefore, her insight will be very useful on this topic. I have already been talking to Hedi via email to begin collaboration on ideas, and so I have very excited to speak further in a meeting.
Developing Scents for Technobiopilic Events
I am yet to hear back from any of the scent experts I contacted recently. However, it is still the summer holiday period for many and so hopefully I will receive a response soon. In the meantime, I will look to reach out to more scent experts in London to look to gain knowledge from them on utilising scents and possibly even work to create custom scents to utilise in my intervention events.
Timeline:
Meeting with Kristina Libby discussing technobiophilic events – 23rd August
Panel discussion – 26th August
Meeting with Hedi Lenaertz – discussing technobiophilic events – 31st August
Meeting with Sue Thomas – discussing technobiophilic events – 1st September
Chelsea café intervention (building on herb event) – 14th September (ish)
A potential event at The Marylebone Hotel – (around) 16th/17th September
Chelsea Canteen Intervention – (around) 22nd/ 23rd September
Reflection:
I feel that the plans and projections for my project into the future present a very promising future for this work. There is a clear scope and a market to introduce creating meaningful connections to nature in hospitality spaces through natural events, experiences and designs. I can’t wait to see how far this work can go and how many boundaries it can push.