Online Workshop: Biophilic Design for Healthcare, Therapy, and Counseling

Biophilic Design: How Does Spatial Design Influence Health, Well-Being, and Recovery?

IIn healthcare practices, therapy rooms, and counseling spaces, people often meet regularly over weeks, months, or even years. These are places where personal experiences are shared, difficult subjects are discussed, decisions are made, and treatments take place. Over time, the physical environment becomes a familiar part of these encounters. It can help people feel comfortable, build trust, find calm, or see things from a different perspective. But it can also place subtle demands on them without their realizing it.

But what makes a space feel supportive and restorative? And what role does our innate connection with nature play? These questions are at the heart of biophilic design, an interdisciplinary approach that brings qualities found in natural environments into the built world. Daylight, views, spatial patterns, colors, and materials are considered alongside research into their effects on well-being, stress regulation, and recovery.

Research in environmental and architectural psychology shows how spatial design can shape our emotional experiences, communication, and behavior. Neuroarchitecture adds another perspective by examining how the brain and body respond to the built environment.

Biophilic design, then, is about much more than creating an attractive interior with wood finishes and houseplants. It involves carefully considered design concepts that respond to the character of a space and the needs of the people who use it. A connection with nature becomes a guiding principle. This holistic approach also informs our Biophilic Design Division, which developed this interactive workshop.

Biophilic Design in Professional Settings: Opportunities and Perspectives

Research into the relationships between nature, the built environment, and health is expanding for good reason. Physical and mental health conditions, along with growing pressures associated with modern lifestyles, are making health-supportive environments increasingly important. How can spaces promote health, well-being, and recovery? In healthcare in particular, there is growing interest in bringing natural qualities into treatment rooms, therapy settings, and counseling spaces.

We see this growing interest firsthand through our Biophilic Design division. Here, we develop sophisticated spatial concepts for healthcare facilities, businesses, and discerning residential and workplace environments, combining biophilic design principles with aesthetics, functionality, and scientific insight.

However, meaningful change does not always require a comprehensive design project. Sometimes, looking at your own practice, therapy rooms, or counseling environment with fresh eyes is enough to reveal possibilities you may have overlooked. That is exactly what this workshop invites you to do. You’ll explore the key principles of biophilic design, understand how they can influence people's experiences, and consider how they might be incorporated into different spaces to meet different needs. In the Case Lab, we’ll examine real-world examples together, drawing on our years of experience in research and professional design practice to help you discover new possibilities for your own workplace.

What You'll Take Away for Your Professional Environment

Sound Knowledge and Fresh Perspectives for Your Practice

Understand how spaces affect people: How do our surroundings influence health, well-being, stress regulation, and communication—even before a word is spoken?

Explore biophilic design: Which core design principles create a multisensory connection with nature indoors?

Interpret research findings: What do environmental and architectural psychology, neuroarchitecture, and research on nature and health tell us—and what can we learn from them?

See spatial qualities in a new light: What strengths, potential sources of discomfort, and untapped opportunities can we identify in real-world examples?

Find ideas for your everyday work: How might biophilic design principles be meaningfully incorporated into your own professional environment?

Your Workshop Instructors: Expertise in Nature, Health, Psychology, and Design

The Person at the Center, the Space in Focus

For many years, the IM-WALD-SEIN® Institute has worked to bring the health-promoting benefits of forests and nature into personal preventive healthcare, healthcare settings, and organizations. Our Biophilic Design division extends this work into the spaces where people live, receive care, and work. Both instructors bring these perspectives to the workshop through their own professional experience.

Dr. Melanie H. Adamek has spent many years developing nature-based concepts and programs for individuals and institutions. As a non-medical practitioner licensed under German law to provide psychotherapy, she also brings a psychological perspective on how people perceive spaces and what they need from their environments.

Simone Raus holds a degree in design, heads the Munich-based design studio raus+weber design, and teaches architecture and design at Rosenheim Technical University of Applied Sciences. She develops and implements biophilic spatial concepts that bring together a connection with nature, functionality, and human needs.

Both instructors have extensive experience designing and leading workshops. They know how to make complex subjects accessible and engaging while creating an open, inspiring atmosphere for learning.