Designing for Pleasure: Savor Your Natural Surroundings

A house that doesn't celebrate, or at least acknowledge, its site doesn't do all that it can to brighten the lives of the people who live there. Homes that capitalize on the challenges and opportunities dished out by their locales give us a psychological boost. They make us feel comfortable, safe and in control. They have a relationship with the world outside the front door. They belong where they are. Scientists don't completely understand why this type of design — known as "biophilic" — calms us, although research clearly indicates that it does.

Here are seven ways you can make a house feel at home in its surroundings:

Build deep porches in temperate and warm climates. This large, high-ceiling porch is a great space to catch summer breezes. Its form acknowledges that some days are quite hot, but the space is designed so that being here is always a pleasure. It relaxes us because a primitive part of our brain remembers pleasant days on the savannah many eons ago.


Create as many shaded outdoor spaces as possible. This home has porches on several sides. The people who live here can follow the breeze as it shifts during the day and fully experience the area's ecology. Having multiple comfortable outdoor spaces allows us to shift location as sunlight shines from different angles. It also allows us to choose among them, and when we can make choices, we're more satisfied with our experience in the space.


Arrange doors and windows to circulate indoor air. These doors align to catch the prevailing winds and cool this home. Moving air is an important feature of mentally refreshing biophilic spaces.


Design into hillsides and other topographic features. This home is built into its terrain, and that makes its inhabitants feel rooted and secure. Sometimes terrain isn't clear; it has been eradicated from most housing developments, for example. When topography and natural features can be identified, mesh with them. Squirrels like their nests to be difficult to distinguish from tree branches, and we like ours to become part of the landscape, too.


The lines of this home ensure that it blends into the local topography, which is good for its residents psychologically.


Indigenous materials also lock a home into its environs.


Maximize green views by "greening" visible roofs. A green roof stocked with indigenous plants calms and de-stresses viewers.


Site to see water views. Biophilically designed homes are sited to capitalize on available views. Looking at greenery alone lowers our tension levels, but when we can see water as well as plants, the calming effects are even more dramatic. In our primordial past, knowing that water was nearby gave us one less thing to worry about.


Reflect your house's history in current design. Houses designed with a connection to their location don't ignore local human history. Linking to the past puts us in a positive mood.

More: Design Your Home to Appeal to the Senses

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