Your Guide to Green: Biophilic Design and Growing Microgreens at Home
On a scale of one to 10, how much do you miss wide, open-air spaces? It’s a solid 10 for us!
No matter how the COVID-19 crisis has affected you, one of the most universally missed luxuries in these times is the freedom to visit green places to rejuvenate the mind and the body. Quarantine has indefinitely limited our lives to the confines of our homes, and it’s been an experience that has deprived us from the healing powers of proximity to nature.
How do you solve a seemingly unsolvable problem? With the help of creative and enterprising minds like those of Ar. Orange Clemente, UAP and Solana Greens founder Nelwin Uy, they’ve helped us realize that the answer to this has been right under our noses. If you can’t escape the indoors to be outdoors, bring the outdoors to you.
Arch. Orange begins by introducing a concept that’ll prove insightful for every kind of homeowner: biophilic design. It seeks to build more intimate relationships between people and their physical and natural environments via architecture and design that are guided by the principle of man’s inherent need to be surrounded by nature. Biophilic design goes well beyond the addition of a mini desk succulent—think more in terms of living walls, strategically positioned windows, opting for edible rather than purely aesthetic plants, and deliberately choosing furniture made from natural materials.
On the other hand, photographer-turned-grower Nelwin opens our minds to a novel quarantine-perfect activity: cultivating and harvesting your own microgreens. Started in the US by upscale restaurants, microgreen growing has evolved to become backyard gardening’s advanced form that comes with a whole slew of benefits. It’s exactly what it sounds like; you grow your own veggies and herbs, but harvest them long before they mature (thus the term “micro,” as they’re culled in the earlier stages of plants’ life cycles). Why Nelwin is a proud microgreen advocate is simple. Microgreens are packed with nutritional value. They inject a much-needed dose of nature in your home and growing them appeals to all ages. They also make a viable business, and are a value-adding hobby.
Watch Ar. Orange and Nelwin talk more about the creative ways we can reconnect with nature in “Hurray Design’s Hurray x Solana Greens: Incorporating Greenery to your Interior Space” webinar on Hurray Design’s official YouTube channel.