BIOPHILIA = INVITING OUTSIDE IN
PC: Lucy Call
In 1984, Harvard biologist Edward Wilson popularized the term “biophilia,” when he published a book of the same name, outlining the idea that humans have an innate tendency to connect with nature. Lately, biophilic design has become something of a design-media buzzword, perhaps following the Covid pandemic-spurred desire of so many to find space and solace in the natural world, but the idea of connecting with nature through design is nothing new for JLF Architects. The firm’s decades-long place-based approach has always embraced the concept, rooting houses in their sites’ particular topography and incorporating the sights, smells, sounds and textures of surrounding nature – as demonstrated by the dining room of the Park City Modern project, above, which opens fully to the outdoors, allowing diners to “hover” over the sight and sound of flowing water.
PC: Audrey Hall
The philosophy was recently highlighted in “Outside In” in the summer 2024 issue of Jackson Hole, which calls the principle behind biophilia “rather simple: connecting humans with nature to improve well-being.” The magazine goes on to use the JLF and Big-D Signature design-build team’s Indian Springs project to discuss how JLF’s architectural approach emphasizes connection to the Wyoming mountain environment, showing the home’s dining room, above – an earlier iteration of the firm’s now oft-copied innovation of treating the space as a transparent “bridge” between masses. “The homeowners had a vision for a home that respected the surrounding landscape,” JLF design principal Paul Bertelli tells the magazine, explaining how the team incorporated native fieldstone, reclaimed barnwood, and hewn timbers to reflect a sense of place. The dining room – a glass-walled connection between two structures clad in stone – “seems to be part of the landscape,” writes the magazine, taking “the clients’ vision one step further.”
Left photo credit: Lucy Call; right: Audrey Hall
Implementation of biophilic design principles offers proven benefits, studies have shown, including restoring general well-being by improving mood and reducing stress within the built environment. Designing in a way that brings the natural landscape directly into a home also evokes feelings of comfort where homeowners are sheltered but can still tap into the sensory experience of surrounding nature. For JLF houses, that often includes allowing homeowners to feel at one with the outdoors, even when cozy inside their homes, via full-length walls of glass that enable panoramic views while flooding interiors with light, inviting the warmth and spirit of the sun even while state-of-the-art technology protects from extreme weather. In the Park City Modern home’s kitchen, above left, wraparound windows open the room to the surrounding forest as if from a treehouse perch, while the shape of tree trunks inspired the proprietary cabinet design. For the Jackson Hole Shoot for the Stars house, above right, a hot tub with Teton views ensures a soothing – and stunning – soak.
PC: Audrey Hall
Another JLF Architects and Big-D Signature design-build residence, the Jackson Hole home dubbed True North, above, emphasizes symbiosis between the home and the land, anchoring the house firmly within the realm of biophilic design with the team’s familiar palette of stacked stone and reclaimed barnwood. Crafted in a classic cruciform shape, the floor plan permits easy flow and connection with the outdoors. In addition to enabling unimpeded views from every room, including of the Tetons, the Snake River, and a small pond and stream on the property, the home’s design provides direct access to multiple outdoor living spaces, another common biophilic element of the design-build team’s projects. For True North, those areas include a hidden observation deck on the unused flat roof of the home office, accessible by an exterior staircase – an inspired late addition during construction of the house, that is a favorite with the homeowners – offering the pleasures of dramatic starry sky views and cool nighttime air.
