5 Ways to Embrace Nature with Biophilic Design in Your Custom Home

Imagine entering your home and seeing a two-story water wall, creating a sensory experience that delights you. Will you feel like you are in a tropical paradise or pausing on a hike upon discovering a hidden waterfall? Do you dream of a custom home with expansive glass windows where you can watch the waves or enjoy the creatures of the forest?

As humans, we love nature and tend to seek a connection with the natural world. This connection is more than a trend; it is a fundamental human need. Our architectural and design choices can reflect this intrinsic connection, creating spaces that nurture our innate relationship, enhancing and improving our well-being.

This oneness with nature has a name: biophilia, the love of living things and nature. Biophilic design creates environments that breathe and harmonize with the natural world, bringing the outdoors inside in meaningful ways that resonate with our deepest instincts.

Here are 5 ways to incorporate biophilic design into your custom home, bringing nature indoors to connect you to the natural world.

1.   Create direct connections to nature

Large glass walls and windows dissolve the boundaries between inside and outside. When designing your home, consider expansive, operable glass walls that open fully to the surrounding landscape so you can see nature and integrate with it seamlessly. 

For my clients in Grand Lake, Oklahoma, the windows capture the spectacular water views from both the west and north of a beautiful cove.  We're designing expansive windows that don't just frame the landscape but invite it inside.  We’ll manage the intense sunlight by creating strategic, large overhangs.  These overhangs will provide shade during the hot summer while allowing warm light to penetrate during winter, optimizing energy efficiency and comfort year-round.

Rolling hills and a ravine with a gentle stream surround my own home in the Ozarks.  I replaced the little windows along the back with big picture windows overlooking the forest to see the wildlife. As the seasons pass, the view changes, and I have a direct, visual connection to the nature surrounding my home.

Connecting with nature makes you feel calmer, relaxed, and more at peace with yourself and your surroundings.

2.   Incorporate the natural rhythm of light

Your body wants to align naturally with the sun's rhythm, and the orientation of your home can enhance this connection. Positioning your bedroom to capture morning light allows sunlight to boost your mood and energy levels as you wake. Start your day by enjoying your breakfast in a sun-filled kitchen, where the gentle morning rays create a warm and welcoming atmosphere for the start of the day.

In the Northern Hemisphere, southern light is your greatest passive heating and cooling asset. When orienting your home to capture southern exposure, you create a natural temperature management system. My daughter's house in Scottsdale faces south, so she gets low winter sun that enters and warms her home. In the summer, she has internal shades that block the sun’s intense heat.  The orientation allows her to use the sun's natural movement to her advantage.

Along with natural sunlight, you can thoughtfully design your home's lighting to align with the circadian rhythm.  This creates a healthier living environment, making it easier to fall asleep, wake up in the morning, and focus during the day.

To further optimize your home’s lighting, programmable systems from companies such as Ketra, Neutron Lights, and Savant imitate the sun's natural movements. These systems transition from soft, warm lighting in the morning to brighter, whiter light during the day, keeping you alert and focused. As evening approaches, the lighting becomes warmer and dimmer, preparing your body for restful sleep.

When you consider your home’s orientation with the natural rhythm of light, you create a custom home that enhances well-being and honors your body's natural cycles.

3.   Design with organic materials

Biophilic design also uses organic materials to speak to the senses — touch, smell, and sound. Materials like raw timber beams, especially those locally sourced with a visible grain, have aesthetic appeal. Stone surfaces like slate, travertine, and marble are incredible because they age gracefully over time. Natural fibers like linen, wool, jute, and clay-based plasters breathe and evoke a warmth that synthetic materials simply can't replicate.

We instinctively gravitate toward these natural materials. Whether it's a beautiful wood floor or a natural stone surface, there's something inherently comforting about materials that come directly from the earth.

In my own home, I'm always experimenting with ways to incorporate these organic elements into design. Recently, I tore up an old flagstone patio to create a stained concrete floor using earth tones of terra-cotta, amber, and dark walnut with touches of turquoise and jade. I’m making a beautiful, natural palette that feels connected to the landscape.

Rugs, textiles, and natural surfaces warm your home and create sensory experiences, forging a deep connection to the natural world. When designing your custom home, choose materials for their aesthetic appeal and how they engage your senses.  The soft touch of a wool rug underfoot, the cool smoothness of stone beneath your fingers, and the rich patina of wooden beams that evolve with time evoke sensations that awaken your connection to earth and home.

Organic materials bring the outside in, creating a home that resonates with the world around you.

4.   Enhance sensory experiences with water and sound

Water has a profoundly calming physiological effect that transforms spaces into sensory experiences. The two-story interior water wall that greets my clients when they enter their home instills serenity from the moment they walk in.

Biophilic design offers diverse water options—from courtyard reflecting pools visible from main living spaces to subtle indoor fountains that softly trickle. Outdoor showers nestled in greenery enhance tranquility, with water integral to the design.

Fountains are soundscapes that mimic natural water patterns. In my home, I set fountains on timers to come on in the morning and go off at night, creating a rhythmic experience that echoes nature's cycles. Wind chimes and carefully placed bells, like the Arcosanti bells at my home, add another layer of sensory delight, creating subtle musical notes that change with the breeze.

For larger projects, water features can tell a story and honor local heritage. At the Sun Harbor Marina in San Diego, I designed a 50-foot mosaic fountain in the central plaza that referenced the ocean and paid tribute to the local fishing culture.

Water and sound elements bring their soothing qualities directly into your custom home, enhancing your living experience.

5.   Echo inspiration from nature

Nature is full of complex yet calming patterns that can influence the design of your custom home. Laser-cut screens and cabinetry can mimic leaf veins or branching trees, while forest canopies inspire ceiling panels with fractal lighting patterns. Even flooring transitions can replicate the natural gradients, from sand to sea or from forest to meadow, creating a subtle connection to the environment around us.

Often, architecture considers how natural geometries can be integrated into design.

This approach, known as biomimicry, copies nature's genius and translates it into architectural elements. You can see biomimicry in iconic architecture worldwide—from the Bird's Nest Stadium in China to the Sydney Opera House with its sail-like forms. Architects increasingly draw inspiration from nature's perfect geometries, incorporating them into structural elements and interior details that resonate with our innate connection to natural patterns.

In my Tourmaline Urban Lofts project, I created laser-cut screens out of Corten steel inspired by a tourmaline gemstone's molecular structure. Each screen is unique, with geometrical patterns that appear to erode and reform, creating a beautiful representation of the stone's natural crystalline formation.

Your custom home can capture these natural forms in ways that feel familiar and comforting.

When we incorporate nature's patterns into our living spaces, we create environments that not only please the eye but also speak to something fundamental in our relationship with the natural world.

Bring nature's biophilic design into your custom home

Biophilic design is a return to our essential connection with nature. When your custom home incorporates these principles, it creates spaces that nurture both body and soul. Your home becomes a sanctuary that resonates with natural rhythms.

Transform how you experience your home. Every element—home orientation, organic materials, natural light rhythm, biomimicry, and water features—can enhance your well-being and make you feel intrinsically harmonious and comfortable.

Nature has perfected design over millions of years. By bringing these connections with nature into your home, you enhance your sensory experiences and enjoy all of nature's beauty.

If you want your custom home design to incorporate the joys of nature, please call me, and let's begin the conversation.  Tel: 858-344-2404, or email: caitlin@caitlinkelleyarchitect.com.