Vicki Pearson and Vanisa Saffari at Porada Design Group were approached by Jon Zwickel from Inn Ventures and was asked to be one of the 6 interior design firms to participate in development of new “Skwachays Healing Lodge”. Artists, and particularly First Nation Artists, are undervalued in our society so being part of a project that would spotlight their work and continue to fund other First Nation projects seemed like a gift to us….paying it forward.

project type:
Guestroom Renovation, Cedar Meeting room, Welcome Room Renovation
client:
Vancouver First Nation Community
completion date:
2013

Design in Details

In design, we bring characteristics of the natural world into built spaces, such as water, greenery, and natural light, or elements like wood and stone. Encouraging the use of natural systems and processes in design allows for exposure to nature, and in turn, these design approaches improve health and wellbeing. There are a number of possible benefits, including reduced heart rate variability and pulse rates, decreased blood pressure, and increased activity in our nervous systems, to name a few.

Over time, our connections to the natural world diverged in parallel with technological developments. Advances in the 19th and 20th centuries fundamentally changed how people interact with nature. Sheltered from the elements, we spent more and more time indoors. Today, the majority of people spend almost 80-90% of their time indoors, moving between their homes and workplaces. As interior designers embrace biophilia.

[30m2]

bedroom

[22m2]

bathroom

[28m2]

workspace

[15m2]

kitchen area

Incredible Result

Establishing multi-sensory experiences, we can design interiors that resonate across ages and demographics. These rooms and spaces connects us to nature as a proven way to inspire us, boost our productivity, and create greater well-being. Beyond these benefits, by reducing stress and enhancing creativity, we can also expedite healing. In our increasingly urbanized cities, biophilia advocates a more humanistic approach to design. The result is biophilic interiors that celebrate how we live, work and learn with nature. The term translates to ‘the love of living things’ in ancient Greek (philia = the love of / inclination towards), and was used by German-born American psychoanalyst Erich Fromm in The Anatomy of Human Destru ctiveness (1973).