| British Columbia (BC), Canada’s westernmost province, has a centuries-old tradition of wood construction by the First Nations of the region. Their round houses and planked long houses made great use of the giant western red cedar and the fine-grained yellow cedar. For BC’s largest city, Vancouver, timber exports were the basis of its original economy. […] — Read More
| The long-time coming second edition of The Economics of Biophilia is finally here for us all to geek out on! Through support from Interface, we at Terrapin are very excited to release this new report. In 2012, we set out to share with the industry the great potential of biophilic design. We sought to provide […] — Read More
| A man to whom Terrapin owes much of our passion and focus passed away last month. Edward O. Wilson made multiple contributions to science and society. His focus on ants and their behaviors led to a sometimes controversial exploration of innate vs learned behavior in other species—sociobiology, a field in which he was a pioneer. […] — Read More
| Over the years I have noticed that while good ideas come and go, truly bad ideas take on a life of their own. Some ideas even move into the realm of what Amory Lovins calls ‘spherically stupid’—stupid from any direction you look. Billionaire Charlie Munger is giving the University of California Santa Barbara $200 million […] — Read More
| The 21-story office building on P Street in Sacramento was a design-build project with AC Martin Architects and Turner Construction for the California Department of General Services (DGS). The building was designed to host about 3,450 employees from eight state agencies, and intended to be net-zero energy. With Glumac Engineering, Terrapin co-facilitated an Integrative Design Opportunities […] — Read More
| The green building movement and arguably the larger discussion about sustainability have progressed in scope and understanding over the last three decades. Terrapin staff have been at the heart of this journey. In retrospect, this progression can be understood as three distinct levels of sustainability, each with their own focus, and with direct and indirect benefits […] — Read More
| The Portland International Airport (PDX) is a joint civil–military airport and the largest airport in the state of Oregon, accounting for 90% of the state’s passenger air travel and more than 95% of its air cargo. The site is bordered by the Columbia River in the north and the Columbia Slough in the south with […] — Read More
| Terrapin is proud to release its newest publication, “The Nature of Air: Economic & Bio-Inspired Perspectives on Indoor Air Quality Management” — Read More
| A lot has happened over this past year, both around the world and within the arena of biophilic design. Since publishing our latest book, Nature Inside, and our current effort to craft a second edition of The Economics of Biophilia, we’ve revisited our reading list to reflect on the most recent thinking. Many of these […] — Read More
| Disaster resilience has focused primarily on the physical characteristics and resource provisions of a home. How might we incorporate psychological resilience into design? — Read More
| This February, Terrapin welcomes Rita Trombin for a short-term residency, in collaboration with ILFI, to help continue Terrapin’s efforts to provide the design community with practical tools for biophilic design application. The focus of Rita’s residency will be on developing foundational materials for designing with fractals. This idea was born out of the Greenbuild 2019 […] — Read More
| Looking for a summer book recommendation? This year our Summer Reading list features titles ranging from authors we know well to ones we’re meeting for the first time. — Read More
| Environmental strategist Bill Browning shares strategies and insights on the benefits on incorporating biophilia into built environments. — Read More
| We may not have solved all of sleep’s mysteries, but we are starting to understand the role environmental design plays in promoting sleep and health. — Read More
| While humans have reached nearly every corner of the surface of this planet, there are still inhospitable places where, without the slow process of evolutionary adaptation, we explore only as visitors aided by advances in technology. The ice-locked continent of Antarctica is one such place. — Read More
| Technological advances are changing the way we interact with the world around us. Can we utilize these technologies to promote environmental responsibility, personal health, and a re-engagement with the greater community? — Read More