Interview: Connecting to Nature Through Architecture and Design

Social ecologist Stephen R. Kellert has spent much of his career thinking and writing about biophilia, the innate human affinity for nature. His work has explored how we cut ourselves off from nature in the way we design the buildings and neighborhoods where we live and work. And he has been a passionate advocate for re-connecting these spaces to the natural world, with plenty of windows, daylight, fresh air, plants and green spaces, natural materials, and decorative motifs from the natural world. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, Kellert — co-editor of Biophilic Design: The Theory, Science, and Practice of Bringing Buildings to Life — discusses why people learn better, work more comfortably and productively, and recuperate more successfully in buildings that echo the environment in which the human species evolved.

Click here to read the full interview.