Biophilic Design With Vibia Lighting

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.

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, 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, and restaurants.

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 colour scheme and sprawling tree dominating the centre of the room.

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, 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.

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.

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.

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.

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 colour scheme.

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

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.

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.

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.

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