Incorporating biophilia into green building rating tools for promoting health and wellbeing

This paper advocates a shift for green building rating tools (GBRTs) from energy-oriented towards human-oriented through incorporating the concept of biophilia. A biophilic framework has been derived to address human sensorial experience and related health benefits via indoor-outdoor and building-nature connections. Six representative GBRTs and their credits have been standardized and categorized for a detailed comparison with the biophilic framework. The relationship between GBRTs and biophilia is disclosed through a series of credit-strategy pair analyses. GBRT credits except for those on Energy are closely related to 85% of biophilic strategies. However, some important biophilic strategies on outdoor human sensorial experience are missed out in GBRTs. Methodologically, green building design should shift from the building centric engineering approach towards a human centric biophilic approach for promoting health and wellbeing. The proposed biophilic framework and strategies provide guidelines for such shifting.