5 Sensational Biophilic Restaurant Cases

Why is Biophilic Design in Restaurants Important?

Biophilic restaurant design provides a harmonious blend of natural elements and offers you more than just a dining experience. Nowadays, sensing nature elements is crucial because these experiences offer you a chance to escape concrete jungles and efficiency-based routines, offering a momentary respite to reconnect with the soothing rhythms of the natural world.

Picnicking is a tangible example of enjoying a meal in a natural environment. Picture dining beneath a canopy of verdant foliage, with sunlight filtering through the leaves, casting dappled shadows that dance across the grass. One’s senses are heightened by the natural symphony of sights, sounds, and scents that envelop them. Biophilic design in dining spaces accommodates these senses and elevates the act of dining beyond mere sustenance to a soul-nourishing communion with nature’s abundant beauty.

Yes, let’s include biophilic design, but how?

According to Stephen Kellert, a pioneer scholar in the theory of “biophilia”. 3 kinds of experience^[1] can be the framework to encompass biophilic designs in a restaurant.

I. The Direct Experience of Nature

This refers to actual contact with environmental features in the built environment includingnatural light, air, plants, animals, water, and landscapes.

II. The Indirect Experience of Nature

This refers to contact with the representation or image of nature. These include pictures and artwork, natural materials such as wood furnishings and woolen fabrics, and ornamentation inspired by shapes and forms occurring in nature.

III. The Experience of Space and Place

This refers to “spatial features and characteristics of the natural environment that have advanced human health and well-being.” Examples include prospect and refuge, organized complexity, mobility and way-finding, and more.

Let’s explore 5 inspiring examples of Biophilic Restaurant Design with these perspectives in mind:

1. Spring Feast Restaurant by Ippolito Fleitz Group

This example of biophilic restaurants features curvy interior designs to resonate with the natural waterscape. The smooth form and the natural daylight that casts gentle gradients on the form provide the dining space with a fluent spatial experience.

Using this restaurant as an example, let’s break down how it achieved an immersive biophilic dining experience:

• Double-height space: The heightened ceiling not only mimics the openness of outdoor environments but also serves as a conduit for natural light, thanks to the expansive glass curtain wall. This flood of daylight enhances the space’s biophilic ambiance, blurring the boundaries between inside and out.
• Landscape integration: The seamless integration of landscape planters at the floor level enriches the immersive experience, fostering a deeper connection with nature. Unlike individual pots, which can feel disjointed, flush planters create a cohesive environment. One approach involves integrating tree pits into the floor, allowing plants to thrive at ground level. Alternatively, a more flexible way is to have larger plants in regular planters in the middle of the landscape and gradually cover up the planters with smaller plants that require less depth of dirt, ultimately on the edge of the landscape, moss can be placed to create illusions that the entire landscape is flush with the floor level.
• Harmonious color palette: To accentuate the biophilic elements, the walls and ceiling are painted in a serene white hue. This minimalist backdrop serves as a blank canvas, allowing the verdant foliage to take center stage. Additionally, the curved white surfaces enhance the interplay of light and shadow, further accentuating the main elements such as plants and green furniture in the space.

2. The Annex by BVN

Within a biophilic design restaurant setting, this example beautifully illustrates Stephen Kellert’s three core experiences.

Direct Experience of Nature:

• The large windows facing the street immerse diners in the surrounding environment, providing a tangible experience akin to being in a lush canopy of trees.
• By blending the plants around the window with the nearby trees, a continuous experience of natural elements is created.

Indirect Experience of Nature:

• A color scheme mimicking nature such as pale brown and flora yellow implies forests, flower fields, and other fertile landscapes creating a peaceful atmosphere.
• Material with earthy tone in countertops and concrete floors emotionally ground the occupants with its solid feeling.

Experience of Space and Place:

• Stephen Kellert mentioned that “Organized Complexity” is also a satisfying experience that humans developed from nature. In this example, the interior design tries to resonate the main theme “under the tree canopy”. Planters racks are sized down in dimensions to create tree branches. Other elements such as chairs also utilize skinny metal frames to match the rhythm. The golden air duct mimics the scatter sunlight between leaves. These designs supporting its theme creates a pleasant visual complexity.

3. Seesaw Coffee by Nota Architects

An example of how biophilic design delivers mental and physical benefits.

In this case, incorporating biophilic design elements in Seesaw Coffee can provide 3 mental and physical benefits for users:

• Soothing sensations created by natural materials such as moss, stone, and sand that offer pleasant visual complexity through their organic form.
• A mindful atmosphere is created by the biophilic landscape and a stone-paved entry path. The entering sequence forms a calming experience while our focus is on the stone step by step.
• Desirable humidity is maintained as the mist system promotes tactile comfort by increasing the humidity in the relatively dry AC air.

^{Credit: Shan Liang, Shiyun Qian}

Overall, Seesaw Coffee’s design successfully integrates biophilic elements to create a space that fosters a sense of soothing sensations, a refreshing atmosphere, and desirable humidity for its users.

4. CUUN Coffee by Design Studio Maoom

An example of achieving great biophilic designs affordably.

CUUN Coffee in South Korea, designed by Design Studio Maoom, incorporates biophilic elements while also being cost-effective to achieve biophilic design. Biophilic elements are focused more while artificial elements are decreased to a minimum. This strategy allows biophilic design to be not so expensive, using raw concrete walls and crisp white furniture creates a minimalist visual distraction and spends the budget on the emphasized natural elements.

A harmonious and calming atmosphere is the result of featuring natural materials, organic shapes inspired by clouds, and visual connections to plants. By emphasizing biophilic design, the space re-establishs the innate human connection with nature.

5. SKT T FACTORY by WGNB

An example uses specific plant species that are suitable for indoor biophilic designs.

Embracing biophilic design, this space incorporates a lush living terrain that is integrated with the furniture such as tables and chairs. Derived from natural forms, the curved lines of the artificial terrain foster well-being and a connection to nature.

Below are some plants found in this example that are ideal for indoor use and you can order online. They are suitable because they require less direct sunlight to grow and ease of care.

Bird’s Nest Fern (Asplenium nidus)

ZZ Plant (Zamioculcas zamiifolia)

What are the benefits of biophilic design for health?

Biophilic design in restaurants can create a calming atmosphere to help relax mentally and physically, improve air quality, and encourage healthier food choices among diners. More details are covered in our example #3, Seesaw Coffee.

Is biophilic design expensive?

No, Biophilic design can be done cost-effectively, because the focus is on elements such as plants and daylight that come from nature. Design can be achieved cheaply by keeping artificial parts to a minimum. More details are covered in our example #4, CUUN Coffee.

What are the three categories of biophilic design?

In Stephen Kellert’s Practice of Biophilic Design, The three categories are “The Direct Experience of Nature”, “The Indirect Experience of Nature”, and “The Experience of Space and Place”. More details are covered in our example #2, The Annex.

What are the plants that are suitable for biophilic restaurants and dining spaces?

• Monstera Deliciosa (Split Leaf Philodendron)
• Bird’s Nest Fern (Asplenium nidus)
• ZZ Plant (Zamioculcas zamiifolia)
• Pothos (Epipremnum aureum)
• Snake Plant (Sansevieria trifasciata)
• Boston Fern (Nephrolepis exaltata)

Details and pictures are covered in our example #5, SKT T FACTORY.

Notes:

[1] Kellert, Stephen; Biophilic Design: The Theory, Science and Practice of Bringing Buildings to Life, Wiley, 2013

Related Posts:

1. Check out the other biophilic design post for kitchens: 5 Biophilic Kitchens to Elevate Your Cooking Experience

2. If you are in the process of designing or renovating a space, you should check out the post Design a Mindful ADU with 6 Senses.

3. Check out the Best Oxygen Producing Plants for Indoors

What’s next?

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