img(height="1" width="1" style="display:none" src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=2939831959404383&ev=PageView&noscript=1")

Bbiophilia and the rising importance of well-being in the design of the workplace

Visualisation of Water pattern  in use with luxuriant planting.
Visualisation of Water pattern in use with luxuriant planting.

TP Bennett’s Nature Trail collection was inspired by biophilia (love for nature) and the rising importance of well-being in the design of the workplace. In particular, the team’s entry focused on people’s emotional connections with plants and their softening presence in the workplace.

‘We thought of the biophilia movement and how we live in cities but crave nature,’ says associate director Emily Hume. ‘The idea was for Nature Trail to be a canvas for flooring and plants to come together in harmony.’

TP Bennett took as its themes the elements that plants need to thrive – water, sun and air – and created deliberately neutral patterns for a more timeless flooring design.

For Water, the design team used the Varied Block laying pattern with prominent use of an oak timber whose grain seemed to it reminiscent of flowing water.  This was combined with both a dark and a highlight paler blue which provided a ‘cliff-face’ element next to the river.  Envisaged in combination with plants that thrive in dappled light and forests such as ferns and mosses, this pattern was proposed as suitable for a retail setting.

  • TP Bennett’s Emily Hume and Ben Boxshall with their Nature Trail collection.
    TP Bennett’s Emily Hume and Ben Boxshall with their Nature Trail collection.
  • Water: Varied Block laying pattern with Chroma Blue, Galleon Oak and Cirrus Twilight.
    Water: Varied Block laying pattern with Chroma Blue, Galleon Oak and Cirrus Twilight.
  • Air: Pleat laying pattern with White Wash Wood, Umbra Veil and Infinity Spark.
    Air: Pleat laying pattern with White Wash Wood, Umbra Veil and Infinity Spark.
  • Sun: Polygon Key laying pattern with Chalked Pine, Neutral Pine and Mica Mix Eggshell.
    Sun: Polygon Key laying pattern with Chalked Pine, Neutral Pine and Mica Mix Eggshell.
1234

The Sun design has a far lighter, warmer feel and is conceived for an atrium, reception or café setting, teamed with succulents and cacti. Here, the aim was to capture the geometry of sunlight through the use of the Polygon Key laying pattern, which suggested to the designers the facettes of a prism, in combination with two pines and a pale, resin-like design. 

Air is a more linear flowing pattern generated by the Pleat laying pattern of parallelograms. These are arranged in shades of grey to give the idea of movement and the pattern is intended as suitable for circulation routes such as shopping centres or an atrium. TP Bennett imagines this as the background for plants that suggest movement and thrive in open spaces such as grasses.

 

Return to the home page

Latest

20 May 2025 from 9am to 11.30am

RIBAJ Spec: Architecture for Housing and Residential Development Webinar

Judges of the Daylight from Above Awards, organised by VELUX in partnership with the RIBA Journal, were looking for projects that used natural light to the benefit both of architecture and of people using it

Daylight from Above judges were looking for projects that used natural light to the benefit both of architecture and of those using it

'Sparing and strategic' use of natural light helps Francesco Pierazzi Architects' garage conversion win the Light, Space and Atmosphere category in the 2025 Daylight from Above Awards, organised by RIBAJ in partnership with VELUX

'Sparing and strategic' use of natural light praised at North Downs garage redevelopment

Roof windows light up a highly unusual conversion of a former silage barn, now a fully breathable timber-framed home commended in the 2025 Daylight from Above Awards, organised by RIBAJ in partnership with VELUX

Roof windows light up a highly unusual conversion of a former silage barn

A light-filled kitchen and living extension helps a semi-detached Victorian home rediscover its identity, and is commended in the 2025 Daylight from Above Awards, organised by RIBAJ in partnership with VELUX

A light-filled kitchen and living extension helps a semi-detached Victorian home rediscover its identity