Civil Engineering and Architecture Vol. 10(5), pp. 1931 - 1947
DOI: 10.13189/cea.2022.100517
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Smart Biophilic Framework to Improve Productivity of Existing Office Buildings in Egypt

Ranad Bahaa Afify ^1,*, Mohamed Medhat Dorra ², Dalia Aboubakr ², Indjy Mohamed Shawket ^3
1 Department of Architectural Engineering, Modern Academy for Engineering and Technology, Cairo, 19049, Egypt
² Department of Architectural Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University, Giza, 12613, Egypt
³ Department of Green Architecture, Faculty of Engineering, Heliopolis University, Cairo, 11757, Egypt

ABSTRACT

We spend most of our lives indoors. For the majority of us, the time is spent at work, often in buildings that were not designed to facilitate well-being or any natural elements. Yet we prefer to be around fresh air, greenery and natural elements. Architects have improved the places we live and work, but they have paid little attention to physiological needs. ''Smart Biophilic design'' could be a tool for a more relaxed workplace, where nature is brought into the environment either physically or digitally, to relieve stress and improve an individual's well-being by bringing the outside in. Consequently, this study proposes a framework for developing the existing office buildings in Egypt into smart biophilic ones. Such a development will serve the society by improving productivity of employees which will lead to more financial revenues to companies as well as an improvement to the economy of the country. The study used a quantitative method to develop the framework, by applying a questionnaire to arrange the smart biophilic systems/materials according to specific criteria, then analyzing the questionnaire results to reach an action plan of arranged smart biophilic systems/materials as inputs to formulate existing workplaces framework. The results demonstrated a positive correlation between the physical environmental factors and productivity. Hence, this study recommends smart biophilic developments to the existing office buildings in Egypt to maintain healthy, highly efficient, and cost-saving productive buildings.

KEYWORDS
Biophilia, Smart, Physiological Needs, Well-Being, Development

Cite This Paper in IEEE or APA Citation Styles
(a). IEEE Format:
[1] Ranad Bahaa Afify , Mohamed Medhat Dorra , Dalia Aboubakr , Indjy Mohamed Shawket , "Smart Biophilic Framework to Improve Productivity of Existing Office Buildings in Egypt," Civil Engineering and Architecture, Vol. 10, No. 5, pp. 1931 - 1947, 2022. DOI: 10.13189/cea.2022.100517.

(b). APA Format:
Ranad Bahaa Afify , Mohamed Medhat Dorra , Dalia Aboubakr , Indjy Mohamed Shawket (2022). Smart Biophilic Framework to Improve Productivity of Existing Office Buildings in Egypt. Civil Engineering and Architecture, 10(5), 1931 - 1947. DOI: 10.13189/cea.2022.100517.