The School of Biophilia CIC

We provide CPD training in biophilic design, healthy buildings, human wellbeing, regenerative design and evidence-based approaches to creating better places.

Our training is designed for architects, designers, built-environment professionals, educators, organisations and communities who want to understand how the environments we create affect people, and how that knowledge can be translated into practical action.

Our CPD programme is organised around five interconnected areas: Foundations of Biophilic Design; People: Health, Wellbeing & Human Performance; Place: Designing with Nature; Performance: Measuring Impact & Value; and Education & Behaviour Change.

What is biophilic design and why does it matter?
Our Foundations of Biophilic Design training explores biophilia as a science rather than simply an aesthetic approach. It introduces the relationship between human biology and environment, the exposome, the nervous system, the 14 Patterns of Biophilic Design, salutogenesis and the shift from seeing nature as a “nice to have” towards understanding its potential contribution to measurable outcomes.

How do buildings affect health, wellbeing and human performance?
Our People training considers the relationship between environment and human experience, including air, light, sound and thermal comfort; neuroarchitecture and cognitive load; stress and recovery; behaviour change through design; and ways of understanding the financial and organisational value of healthier environments.

How can we design with nature in practice?
Our Place training moves from theory into application. Topics include nature in the space, natural analogues and spatial experience; materiality and sensory design; landscape and urban integration; seasonal and temporal design; and practical approaches to retrofitting biophilic principles into existing buildings.

How can the impact of better design be measured?
Our Performance training explores how design decisions can be connected to outcomes including health, productivity, wellbeing and learning. It introduces evidence-based design, post-occupancy evaluation and feedback loops, ESG and social value, and accessible audit tools that help organisations understand and communicate the value created by better environments.

Our Education & Behaviour Change training explores teaching biophilia in schools, designing engaging workshops and sensory learning experiences, working with communities, delivering social value and developing greater building literacy among people who are not designers.

Together, these five areas allow organisations to commission individual CPD sessions or develop a broader programme of learning around People, Place and Performance.

Training can be adapted for professional practices, businesses, educational institutions, schools, local authorities, community organisations and other groups interested in creating healthier, more human-centred and nature-connected environments.

Training is led by Ann Vanner, an Architect, Chartered Architectural Technologist, educator and healthy-building specialist. Ann is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologists (FCIAT), a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA) and a Living Future Accredited Professional (LFA). Her work brings together architecture, education, biophilia, salutogenesis, human health and regenerative design, with a particular focus on turning research and complex ideas into practical knowledge that people can use.