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Biophilic design has no single price tag in the discussion reported by Woods Bagot from the 2023 Sustainability Summit. The article gives no project cost, maintenance budget, payback period or measured financial return. It does show why those figures can be misleading when the design is treated as a decorative add-on: Julieta Loya describes biophilic design as a sensory relationship with nature and culture, while Miranda Snowdon argues that narrow dollar-based valuation can undervalue green infrastructure. The practical question is therefore not simply “How much do plants cost?” but how a project defines, funds, protects and evaluates its connection to nature.
The direct answer: the published discussion gives no universal cost
“Devaluing biophilic design comes at a cost,” a Woods Bagot article published on 20 November 2023, reports comments from a Sustainability Summit 2023 panel. It does not attach a dollar amount to biophilic design. There is no estimate for design fees, construction, planting, irrigation, water features, specialist systems, replacement planting or ongoing maintenance. It also does not compare capital expenditure with lifecycle expenditure.
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That absence matters. A reader can use the article to understand the design idea, the objections commonly raised by developers and governments, and the speakers’ argument about value. The reader cannot use it to calculate a return on investment or claim that a particular intervention will pay for itself. Any budget must be developed for the site, climate, building type, access, water strategy, horticultural specification and maintenance model involved.
The article’s central warning is about how projects are judged. If a nature connection is reduced to a line item for plants, it may appear optional and be removed during cost cutting. If it is treated as part of how a place works and feels, funding becomes an enabling decision rather than a purely decorative expense. That is a position reported from the panel, not a quantified economic finding.
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What Loya means by biophilic design
A sensory experience, not a shopping list
Julieta Loya, identified in the article as a regional sustainability consultant at Woods Bagot, rejects the idea that biophilic design simply means adding plants. Her definition starts with human perception: “Biophilic design is a sensorial experience, thinking about what a place feels like, smells like, looks like and how people experience that.”
This framing expands the design brief. A proposal should ask what occupants encounter through sight, sound, smell, touch, temperature, movement and views, rather than counting planters. A shaded route, a view toward vegetation, the sound of water, natural materials or a sequence that links an interior to an outdoor space may influence experience even when the intervention is not a freestanding green feature. The article does not assign a monetary value to any of these elements; it presents them as parts of the experience Loya wants designers to consider.
Direct and indirect connections to nature and culture
Loya also says: “It’s connecting people to nature and culture in direct and indirect ways. Plants are one of the direct ways, so is water,”. Plants and water are examples of direct contact. Indirect connections can include patterns, materials, light, spatial forms, cultural references and views that evoke natural systems or local identity without reproducing a landscape indoors.
Her wording prevents a common budgeting mistake: assuming that a project has either “biophilic design” or none because it lacks a living wall. A scheme can combine several modest experiences, or make one major connection central to circulation and use. The right mix depends on what the place is intended to do and how people will encounter it.
Why the distinction changes the cost conversation
When the brief is limited to a plant installation, cost is easy to isolate and challenge. When nature and culture are considered in the project’s layout, material choices, daylight strategy, landscape, water handling and user experience, some decisions occur before a decorative budget exists. The article’s argument is that early integration can make the approach harder to strip out later, because it is tied to the way the project operates rather than attached after the main design is complete.
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Why funding and maintenance become objections
Funding can block or enable the idea
The article reports that developers and government bodies frequently raise cost and maintenance when biophilic proposals are presented. Loya summarizes the tension in one sentence: “Funding is either a blocker or an enabler”. Without an agreed funding path, a proposal may be reduced, deferred or rejected even when the design team believes it contributes to the project’s performance or identity.
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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesNo maintenance frequency, staffing requirement or operating cost is supplied. Those items cannot be inferred from the panel report. A rooftop landscape, indoor planting scheme, water element and a material or daylight strategy each create different responsibilities, risks and replacement cycles. They should be priced and assigned separately rather than hidden in a single “green” allowance.
Maintenance is part of the design, not an afterthought
Maintenance concerns are especially important when the feature is living or water-based. Before approval, the project team needs to establish who accesses the area, who inspects it, how irrigation or drainage is managed, what happens during closures and how failures are detected. If those questions are left until after construction, the feature may become difficult to operate or be removed in a later value-engineering exercise.
This is a planning discipline, not a claim that every biophilic intervention has high maintenance costs. The source gives no comparative lifecycle study. It only documents that cost and maintenance are common objections and that the speakers believe the value conversation should be broader.
Snowdon’s argument about value
Why a single dollar figure can be too narrow
Miranda Snowdon, identified as an Associate – Sustainability at Arup, argues that Australia’s approach to valuing green infrastructure needs “a radical rethink.” The article quotes her as saying: “Our current economic model and approach undervalues (it) because we are obsessed with putting a dollar value on the benefit,” followed by: “We’ve got to get beyond that and get more creative in figuring out the true value.”
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Snowdon’s point, as reported, is not that money is irrelevant. A budget, business case and operating plan still have to be approved. Her criticism is that a model demanding one monetised benefit can miss effects that are distributed across users, public space, ecological systems, identity and long-term resilience. The article presents this as her view; it does not test the proposition with a statistical model or provide a substitute valuation method.
The Singapore example is qualitative
Snowdon cites Singapore as an example where developments with more green infrastructure and better greenery command higher value. The article supplies no premium, valuation date, sample, control group, appraisal method or project-level comparison. It therefore cannot support a claim such as “green infrastructure adds a specific percentage” or “the investment pays back within a set number of years.”
What the example does establish within the article is the importance of policy context. Singapore is described as a place where government policy has accelerated uptake. That observation suggests that planning rules, public-sector priorities and development expectations can make nature-based features easier to fund and retain. It does not prove that the same market response will occur in every city or building type.
Projects named in the discussion
55 Pitt Street
The article references 55 Pitt Street as a future office project by Woods Bagot with SHoP Architects and 360° Landscape. It is presented as an example connected to the conversation about deep biophilic design. The report does not provide a completed-project assessment, construction cost, occupancy data, maintenance record or measured financial outcome for 55 Pitt Street. It should therefore be read as a design reference, not as evidence of a quantified return.
Funan’s rooftop in Singapore
Funan’s rooftop in Singapore is also mentioned. As with 55 Pitt Street, the article does not state the rooftop’s cost, operating budget, visitor change, rental effect or asset-value uplift. Its role in the report is illustrative: it shows the kind of visible, integrated greenery that can form part of a larger relationship between development and nature.
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Deep biophilic design versus a decorative add-on
Loya advocates “practicing deep biophilic design” so that the approach is embedded in a project and less likely to be removed through value engineering. Her reasoning is captured in the statement: “It’s just not nice to have, it’s part of what makes that project work.”
In practical terms, integration means deciding early what experience the project is trying to create, where nature or culture enters the user journey, and which architectural, landscape and operational decisions support it. A later decorative addition can still be worthwhile, but it is more exposed to cuts if it is not connected to circulation, comfort, identity or the functioning of the space. The article does not claim that integrated design always costs less; it argues that its value is easier to defend when it is fundamental to the project concept.
A decision framework for assessing a proposal
The panel discussion does not provide a costing formula. A project team can nevertheless turn its themes into a disciplined set of questions. The framework below keeps financial estimates site-specific while preventing the evaluation from collapsing into a plant-count exercise.
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- Define the intended experience. Describe what people should feel, see, hear, smell or touch, and how the experience relates to the project’s purpose. A sensory brief makes the proposal testable without pretending that every benefit has a market price.
- Map direct and indirect connections. Identify direct elements such as plants or water, then list indirect connections through views, materials, daylight, pattern, sound, cultural references and spatial sequence. This follows Loya’s distinction and reveals options beyond a single installation.
- Separate capital and operating decisions. Price design, construction and commissioning separately from irrigation, cleaning, horticultural care, inspections, replacement and eventual removal. The article gives no figures, so the team must obtain them for its own site.
- Assign maintenance ownership. Name the person or contractor responsible for each living, water or landscape element. Record access routes, inspection intervals, failure responses and seasonal requirements before approval.
- Protect the design through integration. Show which parts of the architectural, landscape and operational concept depend on the nature connection. The stronger the dependency, the clearer the consequence of removing it during value engineering.
- Use more than one value lens. Keep the financial case, but also document user experience, cultural meaning, public-realm contribution, ecological intent and policy alignment. This responds to Snowdon’s warning without inventing a monetary result.
- Set a post-occupancy review. Decide in advance what will be observed, who will collect feedback and when the design will be reviewed. A review can test whether the intended experience and maintenance plan are working; it should not be described as proof of a financial return unless the project actually measures one.
Comparison axes that help teams make trade-offs
| Axis | Option at one end | Option at the other end | Question for the project team |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nature connection | Direct: plants or water | Indirect: views, materials, light, pattern or cultural references | Which combination delivers the intended sensory and cultural experience? |
| Timing | Integrated from concept and layout | Added later as decoration | What could be lost if the feature is treated as optional during value engineering? |
| Funding horizon | Initial design and construction allowance | Ongoing operation and maintenance provision | Who funds and manages the feature after handover? |
| Value assessment | One monetised benefit | Multiple lenses, including experience, policy and ecological intent | Which important effects would a single dollar figure fail to capture? |
These are decision axes inferred from the panel’s discussion, not a ranking of design types. The source does not say that one side is universally cheaper, better or more valuable.
Where indoor plants fit
Indoor plants are the clearest physical-product category supported by the article because Loya names plants as one direct way to connect people with nature. They are not synonymous with biophilic design, and the discussion does not endorse a species, container, supplier or maintenance system.
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For a plant proposal, specify the intended experience, light and water conditions, access for care, replacement responsibility and what happens if the planting fails. A small number of healthy, well-positioned plants may support a broader sensory strategy; a large installation without an operating plan may create the maintenance objection the panel describes. The article provides no comparative cost or performance data for indoor planting.
Questions to answer before approval
- What should occupants experience, and how will the proposal support that experience?
- Which elements are direct connections to nature, and which are indirect connections to nature or culture?
- What is the site-specific capital cost, and which operating costs recur after handover?
- Who owns inspection, cleaning, irrigation, replacement and failure response?
- Which architectural or landscape decisions make the feature part of the project rather than a removable extra?
- What policy, public-realm or cultural objectives does the proposal support?
- What will be observed after occupation, and how will the team distinguish an intended outcome from an assumption?
- Which claims are measured on this project, and which remain professional judgments or aspirations?
What the article can—and cannot—support
It can support a clear description of biophilic design as a sensory, direct and indirect connection to nature and culture. It can document that cost and maintenance are common objections, that funding can either block or enable implementation, and that Loya favors deep integration to reduce the chance of removal through value engineering. It can report Snowdon’s criticism of narrow dollar-based valuation, the Singapore policy example and the references to 55 Pitt Street and Funan.
It cannot support a standard price, a maintenance percentage, a guaranteed increase in rents or property value, a specific Singapore premium, a payback period or a universal business case. The article is a report of named speakers’ views at a panel, not a controlled comparison or economic study. Treating its qualitative examples as guaranteed financial outcomes would go beyond what was published.
Bottom line
Biophilic design is best evaluated as a project-wide relationship between people, nature and culture, not as a plant allowance. The Woods Bagot discussion offers no universal cost figure, but it explains why cost and maintenance objections arise and why the speakers believe a narrow dollar valuation can miss the design’s broader value. Build a site-specific capital and maintenance plan, define the intended experience, integrate the strategy early and label measured results separately from professional judgment.
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