Spatial Evaluation of Primary Schools Using Biophilic Design Elements: A Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Approach

The natural environment plays a vital role in children’s health, influencing their physical, emotional, social, psychological, and spiritual well-being. Maintaining a continuous relationship with nature is essential for children and is a key consideration for professionals, such as architects, urban...

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Main Authors: Samaneh Hoseinpoorian Chabok, Ali Sorourkhah, Seyyed Ahmad Edalatpanah
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-04-01
Series:Architecture
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2673-8945/5/2/28
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author Samaneh Hoseinpoorian Chabok
Ali Sorourkhah
Seyyed Ahmad Edalatpanah
author_facet Samaneh Hoseinpoorian Chabok
Ali Sorourkhah
Seyyed Ahmad Edalatpanah
author_sort Samaneh Hoseinpoorian Chabok
collection DOAJ
description The natural environment plays a vital role in children’s health, influencing their physical, emotional, social, psychological, and spiritual well-being. Maintaining a continuous relationship with nature is essential for children and is a key consideration for professionals, such as architects, urban and interior designers, and landscape architects. School design should balance students’ abilities and environmental challenges and offer opportunities to alleviate mental fatigue, supporting sustained learning. The well-known architectural approach, biophilic, fostering a stronger connection between nature and humans, can significantly enhance students’ learning experiences and mental health in school settings. However, implementing this style in Iranian primary schools has largely been overlooked despite its potential to develop a more peaceful and dynamic environment. This research ranked several schools in northern Iran based on biophilic criteria to help authorities identify which schools require improvements. To this end, biophilic design elements in schools were identified through a literature review and provided to research experts. The most important criteria for evaluating and prioritizing options (schools) were selected based on their opinions. Subsequently, each criterion’s importance (weight) was determined using pairwise comparisons, and, finally, the schools were prioritized using the TOPSIS method.
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institution Kabale University
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publishDate 2025-04-01
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series Architecture
spelling doaj-art-d83bd51508654a1f9f0b4c4ec006fb2e2025-08-20T03:26:57ZengMDPI AGArchitecture2673-89452025-04-01522810.3390/architecture5020028Spatial Evaluation of Primary Schools Using Biophilic Design Elements: A Multi-Criteria Decision-Making ApproachSamaneh Hoseinpoorian Chabok0Ali Sorourkhah1Seyyed Ahmad Edalatpanah2Department of Art and Architecture, Ayandegan Institute of Higher Education, Tonekabon 46818-53617, IranDepartment of Management, Ayandegan Institute of Higher Education, Tonekabon 46818-53617, IranDepartment of Applied Mathematics, Ayandegan Institute of Higher Education, Tonekabon 46818-53617, IranThe natural environment plays a vital role in children’s health, influencing their physical, emotional, social, psychological, and spiritual well-being. Maintaining a continuous relationship with nature is essential for children and is a key consideration for professionals, such as architects, urban and interior designers, and landscape architects. School design should balance students’ abilities and environmental challenges and offer opportunities to alleviate mental fatigue, supporting sustained learning. The well-known architectural approach, biophilic, fostering a stronger connection between nature and humans, can significantly enhance students’ learning experiences and mental health in school settings. However, implementing this style in Iranian primary schools has largely been overlooked despite its potential to develop a more peaceful and dynamic environment. This research ranked several schools in northern Iran based on biophilic criteria to help authorities identify which schools require improvements. To this end, biophilic design elements in schools were identified through a literature review and provided to research experts. The most important criteria for evaluating and prioritizing options (schools) were selected based on their opinions. Subsequently, each criterion’s importance (weight) was determined using pairwise comparisons, and, finally, the schools were prioritized using the TOPSIS method.https://www.mdpi.com/2673-8945/5/2/28biophilic designbiophilic elementsschool designTOPSISarchitectureMADM
spellingShingle Samaneh Hoseinpoorian Chabok
Ali Sorourkhah
Seyyed Ahmad Edalatpanah
Spatial Evaluation of Primary Schools Using Biophilic Design Elements: A Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Approach
Architecture
biophilic design
biophilic elements
school design
TOPSIS
architecture
MADM
title Spatial Evaluation of Primary Schools Using Biophilic Design Elements: A Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Approach
title_full Spatial Evaluation of Primary Schools Using Biophilic Design Elements: A Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Approach
title_fullStr Spatial Evaluation of Primary Schools Using Biophilic Design Elements: A Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Approach
title_full_unstemmed Spatial Evaluation of Primary Schools Using Biophilic Design Elements: A Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Approach
title_short Spatial Evaluation of Primary Schools Using Biophilic Design Elements: A Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Approach
title_sort spatial evaluation of primary schools using biophilic design elements a multi criteria decision making approach
topic biophilic design
biophilic elements
school design
TOPSIS
architecture
MADM
url https://www.mdpi.com/2673-8945/5/2/28
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AT alisorourkhah spatialevaluationofprimaryschoolsusingbiophilicdesignelementsamulticriteriadecisionmakingapproach
AT seyyedahmadedalatpanah spatialevaluationofprimaryschoolsusingbiophilicdesignelementsamulticriteriadecisionmakingapproach