Today at 1pm I held my first panel discussion intervention with 4 key stakeholders. The speakers at the discussion ranged from all across the world and provided great insights into their experiences of utilising biophilic design principles alongside how they feel biophilia and biomimetics could be applied in hospitality businesses. A live audience was invited to view and take part in the discussion, as I posted the link in 7 different hospitality groups that I am a part of across Facebook and LinkedIn. However, unfortunately there were no live viewers to the discussion. Although, comments to the upload on YouTube are open and I have welcomed people to comment if they view the recording over the coming days and I can pass their questions onto the experts.
The Speakers Included:
Williem van Bolderen – Based in Finland, Founding partner of Studio Puisto architecture firm which focuses upon hospitality.
Leonardo Binetti – Based in Italy, associate lecturer at Edinburgh Napier university teaching in biomimetic materials.
Rajalakshmi Iyer – Based in Singapore, founder of Deeproots design and living products – specialising in exterior and interior landscaping as well as biophilic products.
Kristina Libby – Based in America, worked on biophilic projects including designing mindful offices which are dynamic and more recently developing a covid memorial project which utilises flower to develop organic, sacred spaces for people.
Please follow the link below to view the full recording of the panel discussion:
Note: consent was gained from all parties to record and post this video onto the YouTube page I have developed as a part of Nature. In.
Key Takeaways From The Discussion
- Looking at the micro level of spaces rather than the macro which is studied by the majority of designers due to the macro level having greater impact
- It was discussed that small applications of nature such as green artworks or centre pieces, even sustainable cutlery are certainly better than nothing, but the impact they can have on an individuals wellbeing is vastly reduced than if design is implemented at macro level
- The examination of dynamic spaces
- Developing Biophilic spaces that evolve around you, just as nature grows and changes around you.
- For example, removing or adding plants or soft furnishings in a spaces periodically or to fit with the changing of the seasons (obviously changes with the seasons does require a more longitudinal study than can be achieved in the scale of this masters).
- This idea feeds into another topic we touched on of creating spaces that are in a constant state of evolution.
- The importance of sound, scent and movement
- Raji shared how she has utilised the movement of air through spaces at certain times such as 7am to start the day and 4pm to signal it was time for a break. This was achieved by a steady breeze filling the space from the air vents at these times (which I found ingenious).
- The use of bird sound and biomimetic lighting were also discussed to be utilised in this manner of marking out times in the day.
- Creating spaces that evoke and create memories
- If we can evoke emotions from spaces it helps people to engage more deeply with them. In order to do this most effectively you have to have a strong understanding of who will be utilising the spaces and what for.
- We also discussed how hospitality spaces in particular are utilised to inspire and educate people. So, if these spaces promote sustainable behaviours and utilise biophilic principles, if people are inspired, they may even take such ideas home into their everyday lives.
- Utilising technology to replicate the emotions of plants
- How technology can be utilised to replicate states of nature through projections alongside scents and sounds in spaces was discussed. This allows us to embrace technology rather than fully reject it in the quest to achieve biophilic design.
- Biomimicry in air ventilation
- Leonardo raised the point of materials utilised in windows which mimic pinecones. Therefore, the material opens in the presence of certain gases in the air, just as pine cones do!
- Measuring a connection to nature
- Kristina spoke on the efficacy of the smiley face survey technique which has been applied in numerous settings, specifically in airports and how they have actually been found to produce very rich data. So, I may look into utilising such a system to gather customers data on biophilic designs, as self reporting survey techniques are very hard to get consumers to accurately complete after they have just had a hospitality experience.
- Williem spoke on how I could create 2 or more models or even utilise one space without any biophilic designs and then add biophilia to the space and compare how people interact in the differing spaces; for instance where they sit first. I could observe via video how people interact with the space, as lots of our interactions and choices in nature are subconsious and so asking people to report on them may result in less rich data.
Reflections
Although the panel resulted in being predominately focused upon biophilic and biomimetic designers, rather than the equal balance of hospitality professionals and biophilic experts I initially desired to engage in the panel; I felt the discussion provided real insight into how valuable changes can be made in hospitality spaces to re-connect people with nature.
I think initially in creating this panel discussion I felt that hospitality workers and biophilic experts needed to be brought together to cohesively bridge the gap between the designs and what will be most beneficial to the specific businesses. However, I realise now that simply getting everyone together in one big discussion was almost the easier route out. After this experience I feel that it may be a more effective approach to discuss with each stakeholder group (the experts and the hospitality businesses) separately as they are quite different groups and they respond better to tailored approaches. Then I can collate the information from these discussion to take the feedback of the hospitality businesses and combine this with the feedback from the experts.
Therefore, I now need to engage further with hospitality workers, in ways in which will accommodate them and this largely meaning not being at fixed times, due to my experience trying to confirm hospitality workers for this panel discussion (see previous post). Although, I am still working on the details of precisely how I will target the hospitality businesses.
Next Steps
Looking to the future I now plan on utilising some of the ideas discussed in the panel to explore further and begin developing a series of very rough idea mock ups. I can then present these idea mock ups to hospitality businesses and ask if something along these Iines would work for them and how they may wish to adapt it to better suit their needs.
Specifially, I was really interested in the ideas of dynamic spaces that change or evolve as the customer returns to them. Therefore, keeping customers interested and engaged with the spaces but also strongly mimicking the organic sense of nature as it shapes around you. Subsequently, I am going to investigate this further through the coming weeks. Additionally, I was intrigued by the idea of embracing technology to develop biophilic experiences in spaces, rather than assuming it detracts from the natural and rejecting it. For instance, utilising projector screens in replacement for artwork, as well as soundscapes and smells to replicate the experience of being in the natural environment that is being shown. Thus, again I plan on looking into this further.
In terms of iterating this intervention, I may host another panel discussion once I have collaborated with hospitality businesses and conducted further secondary research to establish greater depth in my ideas which could then be discussed. In doing another panel discussion, I would certainly utilise images as prompts again as I felt that worked really well, but I would make my prompt questions more concise. I would also place greater emphasis on trying to engage a live audience which the panellists could answer questions from. I plan on doing that by confirming with individuals before hand that they would attend as audience members, rather than leaving it up to people interacting with my posting to view the panel.
Furthermore, I now plan on developing my intervention of an online sharing group where people can post pictures of applications of nature or natural features alongside a short comment stating why they like or dislike this. This will help to engage the my stakeholder group of hospitality customers which I am yet to deeply engage with.