Architecture 2030 - Forest Therapy and Biophlic Design: Reconnecting People and Place
When: Friday 25 July 2025 @ 07:00 (Eastern US Time)/ 19:00 (China Standard time)
Where: Online
Speaker:
Nicole Craanen, MFA, NCIDQ, WELL-AP, LEED-Green Associate, ANFT Nature & Forest Therapy Guide; Founder of The Biophilic Design Institute
Description
Biophilic design is more than a strategy—it’s a way of creating spaces that foster comfort, connection, and well-being by nurturing our relationship with the natural world. This session explores how nature immersion practices, specifically forest therapy, can deepen our understanding of biophilic design in meaningful and lasting ways.
Forest therapy is a research-informed practice that supports well-being through intentional, sensory engagement with nature. Rooted in presence and relationship, it invites us to slow down, notice more, and connect with the world around us. These experiences help us recognize how our environments impact how we feel, function, and relate to others—and how we, in turn, shape the environments we inhabit.
In this session, we’ll explore how forest therapy can help designers, educators, and stakeholders not only shift how we perceive space, but also engage in a more reciprocal relationship with nature. We’ll look at how sensory experience can be used as a tool to support well-being, reconnect people to place, and guide more intentional, nature-honoring design decisions. Case studies and examples will demonstrate how experiential learning fosters grounded, responsive, and ecologically mindful approaches to design.
Speaker Bio
Nicole Craanen’s passion for biophilic design is deeply rooted in her connection to nature and her expertise in interior design and human ecology. As the founder and owner of The Biophilic Design Institute, she is committed to transforming our relationship with our environment, guiding architects and designers to integrate our innate connection to nature into core design principles.
Through her certification program, she equips professionals with the tools to apply biophilic design in meaningful and impactful ways. Her roles on advisory boards for Living Future Europe and the WELL Building Standard—along with her journey as a yoga instructor and Nature & Forest Therapy Guide—inform her philosophy of promoting health and well-being while mitigating human impact on the non-human world.
Nicole emphasizes curiosity, deep listening, and collaboration, and is passionate about re-evaluating current design principles, championing a future where human and environmental interdependence is at the forefront of creative innovation. She loves exploring the world with her husband and young daughter (the cat stays home). She has been lucky enough to experience 24 countries, and has been brought to tears during moments of awe in her own backyard.
