ABSTRACT
For a biophilic resort or hotel, the lobby, guest rooms, restaurants and bars, spa and wellness facilities and the landscape each offer unique opportunities to introduce or elevate a connection with nature through design. Local culture and philosophies are popular sources of inspiration for biophilic architectural and interior hospitality projects, particularly in boutique hotel design where liberties can be taken with brand aesthetic to achieve a place-based destination. In addition to the obvious presence of water, biophilic spa and wellness centres are most often characterised by a strong sense of refuge coupled with dynamic and diffuse light, thermal and airflow variability and natural materials with differing thermal conductance. Multisensory stimuli and a visual connection with nature are often supplements to a biophilic spa strategy. While market segmentation will naturally be a driver of design and investment decisions, biophilic design can be introduced at any level and scale. With any project, success of implementation will depend on leadership commitment.
