In 1984, Edward O. Wilson, a Harvard University biologist, noted that human beings have innate and evolutionarily-based affinities to nature, and hence it is not possible to disconnect their subconscious from the natural environment. He coined the term biophilia to refer to this case, in which humans remain always attached to the natural environment. The most compelling reason why humans must affiliate themselves to natures, that is tree and water, is that they are needed for survival. Many architectural designers are being pressured to incorporate biophilia elements in their designs. Trees and the natural environment in general are needed for healing and caring (Wilson 2006). Plants provide natural cleaning solution of air; air full of gases such as carbon dioxide can induce people to feel drowsy indoor. During photosynthesis, trees usually absorb the carbon dioxide gas, while producing pure oxygen for human use. Despite refreshing the air, varieties in natural environments such as different birds, trees, flowers and so forth form brilliancy of colorful objects that make life more meaningful. This brings hope for a person to be healed easily. Trees are also important in caring. Despite providing fruits to humans, they provide shade, and the natural hope for life. This essay explores trends in current architectural designs, noting the importance of incorporating trees and other aspects of natural environments in home designs (Nishizawa 2013).
Currently, one of the most trending architectural designs that incorporate biophilia elements is that of the Moriyama’s house. The Moriyama’s house was designed by Japanese architecture, Rywue Nishizawa, and it represents the house of a modern architectural design with a multi-building residence of separate buildings. Located in the suburb of Tokyo, the buildings in the residence range from 1 to 3 stories high; interestingly, every room is a building by itself. In this regard, the Moriyama’s bathroom is also a separate building. The whole building is prefabricated with steel to make its walls as thin as possible. Thinner walls are meant to maximize the rooms’ interior spaces. In-between the rooms are gardens. The gardens are also put in front of large windows and doors. The large windows and doors are transparent enough to let in light and a feeling of tree house. The bathroom is a separate cube with glass doors and glass walls in the frontal part (Nishizawa 2013).
In the Moriyama’s house, it can be noted that one who uses the bathroom is likely to gain more satisfaction due to double impacts of trees and the bathroom. In the bathroom, one experiences more satisfaction due to removal of toxic substances from the body. One also heals himself by using water as a remedy against some conditions such as headaches. This is analogous to trees as discussed above. Despite providing motherly cares to humans by providing fruits, shades and oxygen, trees have traditionally been affiliated to humans due to their natures as sources of human medicine. Their being as sources of medicine has been both biological and spiritual. In India, people seeking blessings, health and fertility usually visit certain trees. They believe that the trees are manifestations of earthly goddesses of fertility. Trees now provide beauty, fuel, food, timber, shelter and medicine. From ancient time to current time, tree such as taxol continue to serve as sources of medicine. Many pharmaceutical products are derived directly from trees (SANAA 2016).
Architectural designers now believe that by the fact that urban people are getting motivated to spend one or more days and nights in tree houses, the issue of incorporating biophilic elements such as trees, fresh leaves and pictures of wildlife in homes should be regarded with a lot of seriousness. A tree house is a house that has been built next to, around or among the branches or trunks of one or more trees; it is usually above the ground. Such kind of a house is usually built for leisure purposes, habitation, work space and observation. Although very few traditional tribes such as Korowai of the Papua have been known to build tree houses as part of their culture, the tendency of spending some days in a tree house is becoming common to people whose tribes were not traditionally architects of tree houses. Korowai people have their cultural and religious beliefs formidably tied to the land in the jungle. Just like the Korowai people, people still have strong affiliations to the nature (KIA, Indonesia 2015). They now want to stay one or two nights in the forest. Not only do they want just to have fun in the forest, but they want also to co-exist with the nature. They want to practice tree climbing, enjoy organic vegetarian and game meals in the forest. They would also want to use forest energy, which is 100% natural. Some jungles have begun devising ways to harness solar energy using wind generators and solar panels to meet desires of visitors who do not want anything urban. Individuals feel better when they sleep in either indoor or outdoor hammocks; it makes them forget city life. One particularly enjoys good night sleeps under “all stars”, and have fun in the day by taking deep breathes of very fresh air. Enjoyments of the fun can also be derived from collecting insects and observing wild animals (Gankoyama 2016).
Elements of natural environments such as leaves have to be adapted in the home. The first step for adapting leaves can involve choosing leaves of plants that can easily survive in the house. The leaves of the plants should not only be meant to clean the environment, but also to be used as decorative agents. Such leaves could be of climbing plants, or even Pothos. For pothos leaves, one can cut their stems and bring them in indoor conditions that will allow their growths. One can make a container of watered soil for the stem that has the leaves. Natural light should not diminish to allow the leaves to variegate. The other leaves can be those of the English Ivy plant. One just needs to cut the stem carrying the leaves and instantly bring it to the house. There should be a container of moist soil and cooler room temperatures to allow it live (John 2016).
Attachments of humans to leaves as a cleaning agent, for both toxic materials in the air and organic wastes will never end, but it can only change in forms. Plants such as Mullein plants have been used since time immemorial. The plant’s leaves are edible, medicinal and super absorbent. The same science is employed in the current toilet production. They are soft and quite absorbent to be flushed away by water easily (Stitt and Richardson 2014). Currently, student game celebrations usually involve toilet paper throwing. Toilet paper is now taken as the first necessity a person should have. The toilet paper is a convenient item to be carried, as it does not catch grease. The tissue papers are also soft, but within rolls, they can be thrown over large distances (Brittany 2016). Celebrations using the tissue are thus symbolic as winners feel like having cleansed themselves and healed from the competition. Defeat is regarded as dirt, and when a team wins, it has to wrap or flush it with toilet papers (Neelman 2015). The same analogy can be drawn to chalks. The chalk also has to be celebrated because it absorbs greases, so that cleaning and healing can be found. Its softness and color resembles that of a toilet paper.
As a conclusion, human beings will always remain affiliated to their natural environments. Designers of homes have to always bear this in mind; lack of biophilic elements in the home makes it very boring. Human being depends on trees and leaves for healing, care, food, cleansing and refreshment. Trees provide foods, medicine and spiritual healing, and refreshes air. The soft and absorbent nature of leaves of trees has made them to be man’s cleansing option. Toilet paper inventors borrowed this idea in coming up with porous and water absorbent tissue papers (BBC 2015). Chalks, like toilet papers, are becoming celebrations in bathhouses and art studios because of their natures of absorbing greases to enhance cleanliness. Despite using the chalks to absorb grease in cleaning, human being can also eat them. They are thus part of the natural environment that designers should incorporate in current home designs.
List of References
BBC, 2015, Case study: chalk in the South Downs, viewed 30 March 2016, <http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/geography/rock_landscapes/rock_types_rev3 shtml>
Brittany, 2016, National Toilet Paper Day, The Year of Living Unofficially, viewed 30 March 2016, <http://theyearoflivingunofficially.com/08/26/national-toilet-paper-day/2/>
Gankoyama, 2016, Gankoyama Tree House Village - sustainable culture centre, Gankoyama.com, viewed 30 March 2016, <http://www.gankoyama.com/>
John, 2016, Oh No, There is no toilet paper! what do i do?, Off the Grid News, viewed 30 March 2016, <http://www.offthegridnews.com/how-to-2/oh-no-there-is-no-toilet-paper-what-do-i-do/>
KIA, Indonesia, 2015, Korowai tree houses, Atlas Obscura, viewed 30 March 2016, <http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/korowai-tree-houses>
Neelman, S 2015, Making a mess on purpose, viewed 30 March 2016, <http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/14058373/john-brown-university-takes-pride-tradition-throwing-toilet-paper-court-celebration-first-home-bucket-year>
Nishizawa, R 2013, Garden and house, de zeen.com, viewed 30 March 2016, <http://www.dezeen.com/2013/01/23/garden-and-house-by-ryue-nishizawa/>
SANAA,2016, Moriyama houses - Tokyo, viewed 30 March 2016, <http://iwan.com/photo_SANAA_Moriyama_Houses_Tokyo.php>
Stitt, J and Richardson, H 2014, Defining the physical characteristics that cause tissue softness, Tissue World Magazine, viewed 30 March 2016, <http://www.tissueworldmagazine.com/exitissues/defining-the-physical-characteristics-that-cause-tissue-softness/>
Wilson, A 2006, Biophilia in practice: buildings that connect people with nature, Environmental Building, 15(7).
