UPDATE (16TH SEPT 2021) – my article has now been published which you can view here: https://journalofbiophilicdesign.com/journal-of-biophilic-design/why-the-hospitality-industry-needs-biophilic-design
Last week I had the amazing opportunity to write an article for the Journal of biophilic design, which will be shared on their website towards the end of the month. This was a brilliant chance to publicise my work and get more people engaged in my mission to connect people to nature through hospitality spaces. Being asked to write this article on my work demonstrated the traction my project is gaining among my stakeholders and the opportunity for creating real change that is being created.
I have included the text of the article below, but the article will also feature some pictures from my Chelsea Herb Event.
Article:
Nicole Parkes– Masters Student of Applied Imagination at Central Saint Martins, Founder of Nature.In
Website – Blog documenting the journey of work: https://nicoleparkes.myblog.arts.ac.uk
Instagram – @nature.i.n and @nicole__parkes
YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqNK8rZOlsj1UFpzT3pfuCQ
Email – nicoleparkes0@gmail.com
Call to action –Re-connecting people to nature through hospitality venues by incorporating the principles of biophilic design – bringing nature to the people
What’s the aim?
Nature.In aims to re-connect people to nature by bringing the outside indoors, focusing on hospitality venues. Nature.In is the entity created to unite the work of this venture. Our work challenges convention through developing natural events, experiences and designs that develop 1-1 personal connections to nature by evoking the senses and allowing individuals to experience the health benefits of interacting with nature. These benefits include reduced stress and anxiety, creating clarity of mind and increased creativity to name but a few. We are passionate about creating that gut reaction and instinctive connection to nature achieved from organic interaction with nature in the wild, offering a customer-centric approach rather than commercial holistic design schemes. The ideologies in our work play off the concept of emotional design, in thinking that customers are far more likely to act in the interest of nature and participate in sustainable practice in their lives, if they develop some form of emotional and personal connection to nature. In essence, if they connect to it, they will care for it.
Hospitality is the focus due to the popularity of the spaces, the rise in sustainably conscious venues and the lifting of covid restrictions offering a unique opportunity to reattract customers to hospitality spaces in innovative and engaging ways. Additionally, there is a current lack of customer-centric and easily appliable biophilic design for hospitality venues, that do not require full-scale refurbishment of spaces. Subsequently, Nature.In aims to develop original and dynamic biophilic events, experiences, and designs to implement in hospitality venues.
Why is it Important?
The events, experiences and designs created by Nature.In are targeted at the customers to produce approachable forms of biophilic designs that connect people to nature. The connections formed to nature within hospitality settings are hoped to lead to a heightened awareness for nature into the lives of the individual, so that they make conscious efforts to interact with and act in the best interests of nature in the future. Subsequently, leading to individuals leading more sustainably conscious lives which is more important than ever amidst the ongoing climate crisis.
How Are We Connecting People to Nature?
A variety of methods have been deployed to aid the mission of reconnecting people to nature within the hospitality setting. These include hosting a Herb event at the Chelsea College of Arts, panel discussions with biophilic experts, and social media groups which raises awareness for venues showcasing nature within hospitality spaces. Essentially, the mission of Nature.In is split into two sectors; actions and outreach. Actions include the events and experiences ran in hospitality spaces to re-connect customers to nature and attract them into the spaces through experiencing the benefits of interacting with nature. Outreach involves spreading the word of what biophilia is, its importance and how to utilise it.
Actions
The first action, or event, hosted by Nature.In was a Herb Event, which took place at Chelsea College of Arts across 20th – 21st July. The event involved an array of herbs being presented for customers to come and pick to go with their food or to take home with them. Upon arrival I asked customers to complete a series of 4 questions based upon the measure of Inclusion of Nature in Self to rate their connection to nature. Before participants left, I asked the 4 questions again to assess if there had been any change in their connection to nature following their engagement in the event. I provided customers with herb cuttings of their choice to take home and a card explaining different ways to utilise the herbs, alongside a QR code to an online survey form for added feedback.
The results determined that there was a 2.5% increase in connection to nature from this event, although this could be increased if participants had longer to engage with the herbs. A stunning 85% of participants stated that they would actively visit a hospitality venue if it was offering a natural event or experience, suggesting a large market for this work. Throughout the event many customers stated they felt disconnected from nature living in London, without access to a garden or immediate green space. This demonstrates the potential impact of Nature.In’s goal to bring nature to the people in hospitality spaces, as many people lack but are ready to receive nature; especially in large cities like London.
Over the coming months, more events are to be held at Chelsea College of Arts, building upon the success of the Herb Event. The future events aim to test the impact of different ways to re-connect with nature, such as targeting the senses through aspects of smell and sounds. Additionally, ways to utilise technology to aid connections to nature will be explored through developing immersive events and ways to harness augmented reality technology to bring items such as menus to life.
Outreach:
Through the outreach portion of Nature.In work, we aim to connect people to nature through spreading the word of the benefits and possible uses of biophilic designs, as well as making biophilia approachable by unpacking some of the academic intricacies.
One aspect we found throughout our exploration into biophilic design is that it is a concept largely unknown to the wider world. Instead, there is an ever-growing group of inspiring intellectuals and designers that are discovering and building upon the concept, which is brilliant and fascinating. However, when approaching hospitality customers or business owners and discussing the concept of biophilic design, you are doing well if you even find one that is aware of what the concept entails. Therefore, we feel to truly re-connect people to nature through biophilic designs, great attention needs to be given to raising awareness as to what biophilia is and how people can incorporate it into their lives and businesses. So far, outreach has been achieved through hosting panel discussions, speaking with biophilic experts, and building up the Nature.In Instagram page.
There have been 2 online panel discussions hosted by Nature.In to date, each including 4 biophilic experts. The first panel looked at different ways to approach re-connecting people to nature in a hospitality setting. While the second panel aimed to establish pioneering adaptations of the work and future plans of Nature.In. The panels provide great insights from leading experts into how nature can be innovatively and dynamically incorporated into hospitality spaces to attract customers. They aim to be informative and thought-provoking for hospitality businesses, customers and other biophilic experts. This has ignited conversations on how we can intrinsically incorporate nature into our hospitality experiences. These discussions can all be found on the Nature.In YouTube page. However, future panel discussions and meetings with biophilic experts are looking to be moved onto platforms accessed by a wider audience, such as Clubhouse, Podcasts, Instagram and even Tiktok.
The Nature.In Instagram page aims to showcase natural events, experiences, and designs within hospitality settings as well as natural experiences run by Nature.In. This page is also helping to form a conversation and community in the comments section, through the page’s growing following. Check it out to learn about our upcoming ventures and come and visit us there! Over the coming months there will be several natural events hosted at Chelsea College of Arts and we are always looking for more hospitality venues that wish to explore natural events, experiences and designs that can be hosted in their spaces. So, if you’re interested in getting involved, get in touch!
Ideas For How to Incorporate Biophilic Design into Hospitality Spaces
Future ideas being explored for upcoming events by Nature.In include exploring the powers of targeting different senses and technobiophilia, which involves utilising technology to aid in connecting people to nature. However, there are many small ways hospitality businesses can easily implement nature into their existing spaces. Some simple ideas are listed below:
- Utilising herbs as table centre pieces
- Informing customers of where your produce comes from and your sustainability actions
- Incorporating colour schemes mimicking that of nature eg: blues and creams of the ocean, green hues of plants or orange, red and stone colours of the earth
- Taking advantage of natural light in your space
- Incorporating natural scents and soundscapes
I hope some of the ideas raised here have helped you to think about how you could interact with nature in any small way today, to help bring those natural benefits into your life and hopefully to continue those connections into the future.
For information about future events, experiences, and talks follow our Instagram – @nature.i.n or keep in touch with the progress of the project via the blog: https://nicoleparkes.myblog.arts.ac.uk
If there is anyone interested in collaborating in our work or wants to find out more – drop me an email – nicoleparkes0@gmail.com
Reflection
I loved the opportunity to write this article and share more about y missions of my work and why it’s important to bring nature into everyone’s lives. I was asked to write this article after contacting the editor of the Journal of Biophilic Design to take part in my latest panel discussion. Unfortunately, Vanessa was unable to take part in the panel, but instead, she asked if I would be interested in writing the article. This demonstrated the power of building a strong network of stakeholders once again, as doors begin to open with the more people you build relationships with.