Biophilia and adolescents’ sense of place in Australian vertical schools

Biophilia in schools may influence students’ place relationships and related identity formation

Some urban communities are turning to vertical designs for schools as a space-saving measure where land is scarce. This study explored ways in which adolescent students experience a sense of place in two vertical schools in a large city in Australia. The study was based on the understanding that “schools, as places, may play a key role in adolescent identity formation.”

Thirteen adolescent students recruited from the two participating schools created photo essays to document their place relationships with their respective schools. Data for this study included each student’s presentation slides and description of their experiences, along with an audio recording and transcription of the focus group discussion about their work. One of the participating schools was a nine-story repurposed office building located next to an historic park/garden. This school features 1500 square meters of outdoor recreation space across three terraces. The other participating school consists of four buildings, with the tallest being seven stories high. It includes five “learning hubs’ centered around a green courtyard. Both participating schools feature various biophilic design elements, including outdoor terraces, views of natural areas, indoor plants, and surrounding trees and shrubs.

All of the students identified biophilic elements when presenting their photo essays. The essays “indicated that biophilic elements stimulated inventiveness and curiosity, prompted challenge, and even dissolved established boundaries in the minds of some.” The essays indicated that students valued the biophilic elements as sources of inspiration, stress relief, and optimism. They also actively sought biophilic experiences on a regular basis and expressed a desire for more frequent and more significant interactions with natural materials and cycles. Additionally, the students “strongly related their place experiences and the becoming of their identities to the biophilic elements in and around their schools.”

This research shows that adolescents value and actively seek out biophilic elements in their school environment. It also indicates that “biophilia in schools may influence students’ place relationships and related identity formation.”