Biophilic Design: Blending Architecture and Nature
Bringing Nature into Design
NDA Group’s design philosophy seeks to bridge the gap between human and nature, with the tacit understanding that People & Place exist in deep symbiosis.
Our vision for sustainability incorporates biophilic design, a concept that brings nature into the built space and harks at our deep set yearning for the natural world, where our exposure to nature positively affects our mood, focus, and stress levels.
But at NDA Group we take this concept beyond its logical conclusion, where we ensure that both humans and environment benefit from each other, a notion of utmost importance particularly as the world’s climate is tested in ways never felt before.
Vi Thanh DIC Star Hotel
For millennia the Mekong Delta’s rich nature has been influencing building tradition, and we use biophilic design not only to honour this, but also to contain the future operating costs of the hotel itself.
Thus, we incorporate a white façade that mimics the white cloudlike river reeds, with characteristic perforations allowing in dappled sunlight like rainforest canopies do. Yet, as beautiful as it is, it also serves to block Vietnam’s fierce sunlight, allowing for lower cooling costs.
Then we form a stilt-like podium that houses public space and is inspired by trees growing in concert. Here we use locally available woods that seamlessly blend in with the thick foliage of the locale.
Finally, we welcome a garden that seamlessly enters the building and is encouraged to grow at every juncture in the hotel, helping to naturally keep temperatures down.
Cat Ba Hotel and Residences
Cat Ba Hotel & Residences brings biophilic design to a new level, where NDA Vietnam divines the spirit of nature and brings it into the planning, form, and essence of this project itself.
The three buildings of Cat Ba Hotel & Residences are designed to arouse a gentle feeling of familiarity, with their purposeful layers that mimic the million-year sedimentary layers of the mountains, bedecked in greenery.
The plot assigned for the project is small and backs onto a very steep slope, with the client requesting a high number of units. To compensate for this, we designed the buildings to fit into the space the mountain gives us, rather than working against it, whilst comfortably maximising sea views.
Though the buildings share similar design patterns, their structures are different to fit into their individual subplots, and in this way, NDA Vietnam invokes the principle that in nature, every design is unique.
Wenzhou Seed Planet
At Wenzhou Seed Planet, NDA China uses biophilic design as a guiding principle to create an experience as equally fun as it is educational, such that generations of enquiring minds leave inspired to care for and protect the environment.
The hilly terrain of the plot becomes an integral part of the world we create with its seven distinct zones and unique experiences, where learners are immersed in a biophilic world of science, art, and nature. For example, in the Fantasy Botanical Gardens, learners use their senses to learn about nature: feeling exhibits, inhaling natural scents, and visually taking in awesome spectacles.
For People & Place
Biophilic design is often talked about in terms of how it can benefit human beings only, but at NDA we seek to bring benefit to both human society and natural ecosystem.
We are acutely aware of the responsibility that architects and planners have in society, and through our projects we instill a love of nature and conservation to everyone who interact with our designs.
We strongly believe that it is the constant conscious and subconscious interactions with nature, in the home, in the workplace, and in built space, that can create a love of nature, that ultimately creates a better world for People & Place.