Developers and Building Owners

A Right to Daylight, the Fight Continues

 |  The administration at the University of California Santa Barbara finally realized that the emperor had no clothes and cancelled the mostly windowless Munger Hall,1 but the fight for natural light and air continues. The monstrous dorm would have sentenced over 4,000 students to bedrooms with no windows, creating a potentially disastrous living experience. In location near […] — Read More

The Evolution of Agrihoods

 |  Agrihoods, neighborhoods that incorporate food production into their design, have been getting more attention in the residential development world. In many cases, these projects are conventional sprawl with a tiny community garden or orchard. Whereas, in their truest form, agrihoods weave food production into the design and experiential fabric of their communities in much more […] — Read More

How We Got Here

 |  This feature is a follow up to Bill’s previous post on The Journey of Sustainability. 1 September 2021 Thirty years ago today, Amory and Hunter Lovins, over the objections of some of the Rocky Mountain Institute’s board of directors, allowed a 29-year-old to launch a new program to work with real estate developers to make […] — Read More

Recap: Terrapin at Greenbuild 2017

 |  Catie Ryan will join Amanda Sturgeon and Julia Africa for an interactive session on biophilic design research tools and technology at the 2017 Greenbuild Conference. — Read More

Terrapin at Living Future unConference 2017

 |  It’s that time of year again! The Living Future unConference by the International Living Future Institute is just around the corner. The progressive green building and sustainability conference will run from May 17th to May 19th in Seattle, Oregon. In line with this year’s theme of Genius + Courage, the lineup includes heavy-hitting keynote speakers […] — Read More

Biophilic Design Precedents: Three Perspectives on Evidence & Ideation

 |  In an effort to expedite the broad adoption of biophilic design, I’ve been exploring ways to build evidence and communicate success of industry-relevant biophilic design precedents. These are early thoughts on how we might go about filling knowledge gaps, proving the intuitively obvious, and establishing emotional connections to the built environment. — Read More

Gowanus, Green Infrastructure, and Public Health

 |  This post explores the public health benefits of green infrastructure and uses the Gowanus neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY as an example of how this type of infrastructure can be implemented to benefit communities. During a site visit to Gowanus, three sites were identified to examine the opportunities to develop green infrastructure where people live, work, and play. — Read More

Recap: Terrapin at Greenbuild 2016!

 |  Bill Browning and Chris Garvin had great sessions at Greenbuild 2016 about biophilic design and the sharing economy. Read more about their sessions and the team’s impressions of Greenbuild overall. — Read More

Clif Bar Industrial Bakery

 |  Using the 14 Patterns of Biophilic Design research as a framework, Terrapin analyzed the Clif Bar project and identified interventions to support employee health and wellbeing. Clif Bar is likely the first food manufacturer to deliberately incorporate biophilic design into an industrial bakery. — Read More

Terrapin to Present at the 2016 BOMA Conference

 |  Jonce Walker from our team will be presenting with Joe Zazzera, CEO of Plant Solutions, in the session “Human Wellbeing: The WELL Building Standard and the Economic Case for Nature-Based Design” at the 2016 Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) International Conference in Washington DC. — Read More