Bullfrog Films
62 minutes
SDH Captioned


DVD Purchase $25
US Release Date: 2012
Copyright Date: 2011
DVD ISBN: 1-93777-210-1

Subjects
Awards and Festivals
Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital
Greenbuild Film Festival
Architecture and Design Film Festival
Biophilic Design (Home Video Version)
The Architecture of Life

A design revolution that connects buildings to the natural world, buildings where people feel and perform better.

"Essential viewing for policy makers, planners, designers and anyone engaged in re-designing the future." Bryony Schwan, Executive Director, The Biomimicry 3.8 Institute

Biophilic Design is an innovative way of designing the places where we live, work, and learn. We need nature in a deep and fundamental fashion, but we have often designed our cities and suburbs in ways that both degrade the environment and alienate us from nature.

The recent trend in green architecture has decreased the environmental impact of the built environment, but it has accomplished little in the way of reconnecting us to the natural world, the missing piece in the puzzle of sustainable development.

Come on a journey from our evolutionary past and the origins of architecture to the world's most celebrated buildings in a search for the architecture of life. Together, we will encounter buildings that connect people and nature--hospitals where patients heal faster, schools where children's test scores are higher, offices where workers are more productive, and communities where people know more of their neighbors and families thrive.

Featured are communities and buildings from Scandinavia, Germany, France and Britain to the Canadian and American northwest, American southwest, and New England. They include: California Academy of Sciences, Doernbecher Children's Hospital, Fallingwater, Viaduc des Arts, Google/YouTube Headquarters, Sahlgrenska Hospital (Psychiatric Department), High Point (Seattle Housing Authority), Johnson Wax Building, Sidwell Friends Middle School, Oxford Museum of Natural History, Village Homes (Davis, CA), and Kroon Hall (Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies).

Amongst those interviewed are: Edward O. Wilson, Bill McDonough, Judi Heerwagen, Jason McLennan, Tim Beatley, Bill Browning, Bert Gregory, Kent Bloomer, Claire Cooper Marcus, Michael Taylor, David Orr, Gus Speth, and Richard Louv.

Biophilic Design points the way toward creating healthy and productive habitats for modern humans.

Web Page: http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/biodhv.html

Reviews
"Biophilic Design extends the theory and practice of green building into a new dimension--the realm of human connection with nature and sense of place. If designers and planners want to create truly sustainable places that people will love and care for now and many generations to come, they need to give this film their close attention. We are using it as an important resource for teaching in our college."

Louise Chawla, Professor, College of Architecture and Planning, University of Colorado, Editor and co-Author, Growing Up in an Urbanizing World

"At a time when our society faces such extraordinary environmental and social challenges because of our separation from nature, this film is a breath of fresh air and takes us on journey of possibility and hope. This inspiring film features some of the leading visionaries in architecture and design, people who understand the real world need to design residential and commercial buildings and cities that are not only functional but feed our souls by reconnecting us to nature. Biophilic Design is essential viewing for policy makers, planners, designers and anyone engaged in re-designing the future."
Bryony Schwan, Executive Director, The Biomimicry 3.8 Institute

"Natural environments are not amenities, and they are not mere 'resources' or quaint luxuries. They are essential to human mental, physical and social well-being, most urgently for our children. Stephen Kellert has yoked health and environment in a new and powerful way for all who view Biophilic Design."
Dr. Richard Jackson, Pediatrician, Professor and Chair, Environmental Health Sciences, University of California-Los Angeles