…Biophilia — a concept that’s been introduced in the pages of Health & Home before — is a term coined by the sociologist Erich Fromm and later adopted by biologist Edward O. Wilson in a 1984 book of the same name. Bill Browning, co-founder of the New York City-based sustainability consulting firm Terrapin Bright Green and chair of the Biophilic Institute, defines it as the “innate affiliation of humans to other living organisms and lifelike processes.” …Browning’s firm published a paper in 2022 titled “The Nature of Wood,” which distilled the available research on why people tend to gravitate to wood as a natural material. …Browning’s company has summarized some of biophilia’s high-level takeaways in a paper called “14 Patterns of Biophilic Design: Improving Health & Well-Being in the Built Environment.” In it, they outline how light, water, airflow and even a very primal sense of safety can positively affect cognitive performance as well as our mind-body relationship.