Inviting the Outdoors In
by Deborah Franklin
After enduring one of the
wettest winters in Seattle history,
Judith Heerwagen, an environmental
psychologist and a great believer in
the power of nature to restore a weary
soul, had to admit last February that
33 straight days of rain had been
enough to swamp even her enthusiasm
for the great outdoors.
“It got to be pretty grim,”
Heerwagen recalls. Day after day, her
usually splendid window views of trees
and a leafy garden were a soupy, stormbattered mess. “Still,” she insists, “I’d
much rather have a window view of
constant rain than no window at all.”
And, apparently, so would the
rest of us. In the two decades since
Harvard University biologist E.O.
Wilson first suggested that fascination
with nature might be hardwired into
the human brain, health researchers
and psychologists such as Heerwagen
have amassed significant evidence that
he was right.
The powerful affinity that Wilson
and others have named “biophilia” is
more than just puppy love. In hospital
studies, Texas A&M University
psychologist Roger Ulrich found that
surgical patients randomly assigned
to a room with a window view of
trees not only required less pain
medication, but also healed faster and
were discharged more quickly than if
they had no window or had a view of
a brick wall.
Tapping into the power of biophilia
may also boost a company’s bottom
line. In Heerwagen’s own research,
Michigan office and factory workers
were both happier with their work
environment and 20 percent more
productive after their firm moved into a
building that had skylights and windows
that opened onto views of restored
prairie with meandering footpaths and
wetlands rather than sterile, office park
surroundings.
“Instead of the big expanse of a
clipped lawn and staid fountain that you
usually find at a corporate headquarters,
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Research shows that regular contact with nature boosts physical and mental
health as well as productivity; with a little imagination, even people who are
stuck inside can reap these benefits.
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this large furniture manufacturer,
Herman Miller, put in a pond and
restored acres of prairie around the
building with huge windows looking
out from the factory showroom,”
Heerwagen says. “The building is still
just off the highway, and it’s noisy from
the manufacturing, but the workers can
look outside and see great blue herons
in the pond.”
In ongoing efforts to tease out what
it is about some landscapes that makes
them particularly appealing, researchers
have discovered through cross-cultural
studies that certain features — the
broad, spreading canopies of clustered
trees, colorful flowers or sparkling
water, for example — are pleasing to
people throughout the world. “People
are aesthetically drawn to environmental
features that have proven instrumental to
human survival,” writes Yale University
social ecologist Stephen Kellert in his
2005 book Building for Life: Designing
and Understanding the Human-Nature
Connection. Such features, Kellert
continues, include “clean flowing water,
promontories that foster sight and
mobility, areas that offer refuge and
shelter, and bright flowering colors
that frequently signify the presence of
food.” The premium price that people
are willing to pay for mountain or water
views in hotels or homes provides further
anecdotal evidence, he says.
But you don’t need a big budget
or floor-to-ceiling windows to bring the
benefits of the outdoors in. With a little
creativity, even worker bees toiling in
windowless cubicles or residents of
basement apartments can strengthen
their healing connections to the outside
world. To see for yourself, try these
biophilia-based home decorating tips:
Value the vista: No window? No
problem. Though nothing can truly
replace the sounds, fragrances, fresh air
and stimulation we get through genuine
windows overlooking a glorious nature
scene, we can’t all live and work in
Yosemite. If you don’t have an actual
view of the horizon, put up photographs,
paintings, nature calendars or even
postcards that simulate a long view of
sky and earth.
Let there be light: Studies of
office workers show that it’s not just
being able to see outside that they
crave, it’s also the movement of air and,
especially, the shifting patterns of light
that signal changes in the time of day
and season. Access to daylight, where
possible, or glowing or dappled light
from track lights or sconces that scatter
light against a wall can lift mood and
productivity. Improved lighting need
not cost more; research shows that
energy-saving fluorescent bulbs can be
just as effective, if properly deployed.
Plant a posy: Houseplants and
window boxes of fragrant herbs or
flowers literally add life to a room.
Watching potted plants grow from
tender shoots to pie-ready strawberries
or succulent tomatoes may be a
particularly sweet way to have your
nature and eat it, too. Warning: Toss cut
flowers before they wither and smell,
and also get rid of what Heerwagen
calls “prisoner plants” — the lone,
spindly, leafless specimens huddling in
a too-small pot in a dark corner. “Live
plants and flowers are comforting,” she
says. “Dead ones don’t make anyone
feel better.”
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Play with color: Even a single fresh
bloom can add inexpensive delight to
a table or desk, and that makes sense
evolutionarily: In the wild, flowers are
soon followed by fruit. Visit a farmer’s
market for local blooms. Exotic choices
can be attractive, Kellert says, but the
familiar flowers closer to home will
likely strike a deeper emotional chord.
Talk to the animals: Research
has repeatedly shown that friendly
interaction with animals can ease
depression, reduce blood pressure, and
otherwise buffer stress and boost selfesteem. No time or space for pets? Put
a hummingbird feeder outside your
window or offer to walk or play ball
with a neighbor’s dog.
Sway with the seasons: No matter
how many hours you spend in a
virtual world, each physical locale has
distinctive scents and sounds that shift
with the seasons. Taking note of the
seasonal clues in your neighborhood and
incorporating some into your decor —
a blooming cactus, a rosy branch of
redbud — can help ground you in place
and time. Fragrant plants — lilac or
lavender in spring or summer, say, or
rosemary or pine in December — are
especially evocative.
Hide when you need to: Biophilia
isn’t just a love of pleasant nature; it’s
also about feeling safe from danger.
Peripheral gloom can feel threatening
even when no danger lurks; drawing
the shades across windows at night, or
adding standing, light-colored screens
around a conversation area, can lend
coziness to an exposed space.
Walk in the park: Make spending
time outdoors a priority. In studies of
college students by Uppsala University
psychologist Terry Hartig, those who
spent 40 minutes walking through a
park were more accurate in subsequent
proofreading tests and much more
likely to say they felt refreshed than
those who spent 40 minutes strolling
through city streets or those who sat
quietly inside reading or listening to
music. Such findings would not have
surprised 19th century American
naturalist Henry David Thoreau,
who advised a daily walk “to re-ally
ourselves with nature.”
The next step in architecture and
other forms of design, Kellert says, is
to more fully integrate the principles of
biophilia into notions of “sustainable”
technology. “I’ve started thinking of it
as ‘restorative environmental design’ —
a concept that incorporates all those
principles,” he says. “It can’t just be
about avoiding having negative effects
on the environment. We need to think
about taking advantage of nature’s
benefits, too.”
critical idea written as a 8th grader shorten