Biophilic Design With Vibia Lighting

© Riyaz Quraishi and Simeen Quraishi Architects

Biophilic Design With Vibia Lighting

From LEED buildings and sustainable materials to eco-friendly décor, design today is increasingly oriented to the environment. But the idea is not a new one: For decades designers have been inspired by “biophilia,” a Greek term that means “the love of living things.”

Vibia The Edit - Lighting That Looks to Nature: Biophilic Design

Biophilic design is based on the concept that humans have an inherent affinity for nature therefore their living environment should more closely connect to it for enhanced health, well-being, and productivity.

Famous examples of biophilic design include Bosco Verticale, a pair of residential high rises in Milan with terraces integrating more than 900 trees and plants.

Vibia The Edit - Lighting That Looks to Nature: Biophilic Design

The Jewel terminal in Singapore Changi’s airport is another example. Designed in 2019 by architect Moshe Safdie, it boasts the world’s tallest indoor waterfall, 100,000 plants, vertical gardens, and more.

Vibia The Edit - Lighting That Looks to Nature: Biophilic Design - The Jewel

An important element of biophilic design is lighting, specifically organic designs and materials, as well as systems that provide brightness through the day to mimic the natural pattern of the sun and support circadian rhythms.

Vibia, with a mission to provide better spaces for better living, offers many collections that capture biophilia concepts. Read on for a range of inspired examples in residences, hotels, restaurants, and more.

Levy’s North floor lamp illuminates the Mirror Bar in Bratislava, Slovakia, in the iconic Radisson Blu Carlton Hotel. In the bar’s seating area, North’s arms branch upwards, the plant-like look echoing the botanical theme set by the forest-green color scheme and sprawling tree dominating the center of the room.

Vibia The Edit - Lighting That Looks to Nature: Biophilic Design
Vibia Illuminates a Timeless Bratislavian Cocktail Bar

For an office renovation in Wijk en Aalburg, The Netherlands, Dutch design studio VEVS aimed to integrate the indoors with the outside. The firm, DTI, produces butter and puff pastry so VEVS looked to the Dutch countryside dotted with agrarian barns for inspiration. They installed floor-to-ceiling windows for ample sunshine, wood beams, and furniture in organic forms.

In the conference rooms, the designers installed Arik Levy’s Wireflow pendants. The industrial black cables create a delicate three-dimensional design that’s at once graphic and transparent and a striking material contrast with the organic wood table and paneling.

Vibia The Edit - Lighting That Looks to Nature: Biophilic Design - Wireflow

In Barcelona’s Gates Hotel, natural materials like marble, brass, and walnut lend a rich, earthy ambience. At one end of the loft-like lobby, the designers installed Antoni Arola’s Palma, which connects light and vegetation in a pendant that appears to float in mid-air.

Vibia - Stories - Gates Hotel -6

Blown-glass globes coupled with lush, cascading greenery recall an ancient hanging garden. Positioned near an oversized potted palm, it creates an interior landscape that nods to nature and enhances the hotel’s organic, relaxed sensibility.

Vibia - Stories - Gates Hotel -2

Palma in both horizontal and vertical styles also illuminates Valencia’s Vaqueta Gastro Mercat restaurant, tucked in the back room of a greengrocer. Surrounded by undulating bamboo canes and brimming with vegetation, the pendant is positioned in several areas, creating the feeling of dining in nature.

Vibia The Edit - Lighting That Looks to Nature: Biophilic Design - Palma
Vibia The Edit - Lighting That Looks to Nature: Biophilic Design - Palma

Arola’s Palma takes pride of place in Bolpetta restaurant in Turin, Italy. The slightly flattened globe silhouette recalls the shape of the earth, an organic design that complements the wallpaper’s graphic pattern and color scheme.

Vibia - Stories - Bolpetta gretastella 19 - Palma

© Greta Stella / Velvet Lab

The plants spill over the sides, lending an informal attitude to the space and providing a warm glow of illumination.

Vibia The Edit - Lighting That Looks to Nature: Biophilic Design - Palma

© Greta Stella / Velvet Lab

In an apartment in Alicante, Spain, the Palma horizontal pendant brightens the dining room. The space has a natural feel, with pale woods and botanical wallpaper.

A trio of globes interspersed with greenery fits perfectly in this setting, its horizontal profile spanning the length of table below.

Petit Epicerie, an indoor-outdoor restaurant in Liege, Belgium, also features Palma. In the airy dining room, vegetation in the horizontal pendant brings out the color of the green-grey walls.

Vibia The Edit - Lighting That Looks to Nature: Biophilic Design - Palma

A horizontal swath of Palma orbs draws the eye over the bar area, its black metal canopy echoing the ebony hue of the glossy tile.

Vibia The Edit - Lighting That Looks to Nature: Biophilic Design - Palma

Set on the sandy shores of Bahrain, a villa brings the outside in with a triple-height atrium. The sun flows through skylights, brightening stone-clad walls and bonsai trees. Suspended overhead are a pair of Wireflow pendants, Arik Levy’s contemporary interpretation of the classic chandelier.

Vibia The Edit - Lighting That Looks to Nature: Biophilic Design - Wireflow

© Riyaz Quraishi and Simeen Quraishi Architects

Vibia The Edit - Lighting That Looks to Nature: Biophilic Design - Wireflow

© Riyaz Quraishi and Simeen Quraishi Architects

The fixtures’ lean, black cables trace an airy outline that fills the space, yet allows the soaring ceilings and striking architecture to take center stage.