In recent years, the role of the designer has undergone a profound transformation.

Today, it is no longer enough to design buildings that are efficient, functional, or aesthetically coherent. Spaces are called upon to address increasingly complex challenges: physical and mental well-being, health, inclusion, sustainability, quality of experience, and new models of work and learning.

At the same time, international scientific research has produced a growing body of studies demonstrating how the built environment influences human behavior, emotions, the ability to concentrate, recovery from stress, and even the quality of relationships.

For designers, this means one very simple thing today: knowledge of materials, technologies, and composition is no longer enough.

It is also necessary to understand how people perceive and experience spaces.

And this is where education takes on a new meaning.

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From design of the object to design of the experience

Over the past twenty years, disciplines such as environmental psychology, neuroscience, evolutionary biology, and biophilic design have produced a growing body of scientific evidence demonstrating how spaces influence attention, recovery from stress, social relationships, learning, and quality of life.

Today, experience, sensitivity, and design culture are strongly supported by scientific evidence. The latest research offers designers new tools for understanding how the built environment influences perceptions, behaviors, and well-being, enabling them to make design decisions with greater awareness. In this context, training plays a strategic role: it is not merely an opportunity for professional development but becomes a genuine design tool, capable of broadening the criteria for interpreting spaces and translating research into concrete applications.

Biophilic Design: From a Design Approach to an Evidence-Based Discipline

In recent years, Biophilic Design has become a permanent fixture in the international debate on spatial design, helping to redefine the role of Nature within the built environment.

As it has gained traction, so too has the need to move beyond a purely formal interpretation of the concept. The integration of vegetation, natural materials, or biomorphic elements represents only one part of a much broader approach, grounded in an understanding of the relationships between humans, the environment, and perceptual processes.

Today, Biophilic Design increasingly engages with Environmental Psychology, evolutionary biology, and neuroscience, offering designers tools to understand how spatial configurations, sensory qualities, perceptual dynamics, and relationships with natural systems influence behavior, resilience to stress, attention, and psychophysical well-being.

From this perspective, Biophilic Design evolves from a design language into an interdisciplinary methodology, capable of guiding the decision-making process through knowledge validated by scientific research and translating it into design strategies consistent with people’s needs.

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The Partnership with GREEN LEAF

It is precisely from this vision that the scientific collaboration between MeM and GREEN LEAF—Groupe de Recherche en Education à l’Environnement et à la Nature, the Affective Ecology Laboratory at the University of Valle d’Aosta—was born.

As one of Italy’s leading centers dedicated to studying the relationship between people and nature, GREEN LEAF conducts research, training, and outreach on the topics of biophilia, environmental psychology, and biophilic design, contributing to the development of evidence-based methodologies applicable to spatial design.

For MeM, this collaboration represents a natural evolution of our journey.

For years, we have been working to ensure that environmental psychology, biophilic design, and well-being do not remain merely theoretical concepts, but become concrete tools available to designers, companies, and public agencies.

The collaboration with GREEN LEAF reinforces this goal, fostering a sustained dialogue between scientific research and design application. To learn more, read the article published in our Journal.

A faculty that combines research and project work

One of the defining features of the new training program is the composition of the faculty.

The course brings together complementary areas of expertise that cover the entire process of understanding and applying Biophilic Design:

• Giuseppe Barbiero, a biologist and one of the leading international scholars on biophilia, will explore the evolutionary foundations of the relationship between humans and nature.
• Rita Berto, an environmental psychologist and researcher, will guide participants in understanding perceptual processes, environmental stress, and restorative environments.
• Bettina Bolten, a Biophilic Design Consultant, will present the structure, methods, and protocols of Biophilic Design across various fields of application.
• Chiara Marchetti, an interior designer, instructor, and biophilic designer, will guide participants in translating scientific knowledge into design strategies through workshops and case studies.

This integration of research, design, and practical application is one of the program’s defining features.

From Scientific Research to the Project

This vision gave rise to “Designing According to Nature – Biophilic Design and Environmental Psychology for Contemporary Design”, an advanced course developed by MeM in collaboration with GREEN LEAF – Groupe de Recherche en Education à l’Environnement et à la Nature, and the Affective Ecology Laboratory at the University of Valle d’Aosta.

The course guides architects, interior designers, psychologists, and design professionals in exploring the latest scientific evidence on the relationship between people, Nature, and the built environment, providing a method for translating this knowledge into design strategies applicable to various contemporary contexts. The program consists of 26 hours of training, 13 modules, contributions from four instructors, and a final workshop dedicated to the practical application of these concepts through case studies and real-world projects.

Today, design means interpreting the complexity of the relationships between people and space. It means understanding how flows, perceptions, behaviors, and needs influence the quality of experience and transforming this knowledge into informed design choices. It is through this ongoing dialogue between scientific research and design that contemporary design is built.

 Image credits: Thanh Luu da Pexels