Examples of biophilic design interiors cannabis retail stores
Biofilico biophilic design consultants review the best retail interior design concepts for medical cannabis stores in north america
Alchemy Downtown Toronto, Canada - example biophilic interior design
Alchemy is a Toronto-based cannabis dispensary brand that not only delivers a nature-based product but a customer experience inspired by biophilic design.
Designed by the Studio Paolo Ferrari, the Alchemy Downtown Toronto cannabis retail store shows influences of art, nature, and technology fused into an elevated space. The result is a sublime yet upbeat atmosphere, rather like the effects brought on by many of the products on sale here.
High technical ingenuity and healthy building materials combine to create a contemporary retail space with a touch of class in an otherwise neglected corner of the retail design industry. Things are now changing for the better with these nature-inspired dispensaries however.
Walking through the cannabis store space feels like a luxury, high fashion experience. Within the foyer, a large skylight shines down upon a circular garden central to the room. At its center, a tree sapling grows tall reaching toward the light cascading down from above. Along its sides, large-leafed plants spiral out into the white room surrounding the indoor garden. At its base, a layer of undergrowth fills the small ‘forest floor’.
Further elements of earthy, biophilic design are brought into the room through whitewashed ash wood. An organically shaped pillar of this material accompanies a curvilinear wood table that bends around the ash pole.
The strong, sunshine yellow accents present within the space are an essential element in the overall aesthetic while natural light is brought into the store via yellow-tinted glass.
Finally, circles are a recurring design theme here: a circular pattern marked by a change in material was created on the floor. In the ceiling a circle of acoustic sound-absorbing material creates a dark circle while on the walls, circular mirrors reflect back the displays of merchandise, even one of the retail store’s rooms is circular.
City Cannabis Vancouver - nature inspired interior design
This dispensary is what we would classify as a classic example of biophilic interior design. A welcome desk with a curvilinear form of a quarter circle incorporates wood paneling while on the wall behind the reception this wood paneling extends to full height, introducing a large chunk of timber into the visual experience. Each section of paneling is three dimensional in nature protruding a couple inches from the wall.
Moving into the interior of the cannabis dispensary, the wooden panelling covers the two long parallel walls. The beaming goes up each side of the wall and bends like an arch before it meets the corner. The beaming bends toward each-other and connects in the middle surrounding the room in small wooden arches.
A retail display table is a continuous piece of whitewashed wood. It extends to around 20 feet as one solid piece of organically shaped timber.
Lighting creates abstract patterns into the space, as if replicating light filtering in through a forest canopy overhead, inevitably unordered and fractal. Also placed within these nooks, an assortment of artificial plants decorates the ceiling and walls of the space, no doubt a response to low light / maintenance priorities. Placed with intent, they appear to grow outwards and are concentrated within corners of the space.
This greenery cascading down the walls and across the ceiling when combined with living plants and potted birch trees gives the dispensary a tangible connection to nature and biophilic design, the perfect backdrop for their plant-based products.
Etain Health NYC - biophilic design in medical cannabis dispensary
Female-owned Etain Health located in New York integrates biophilic design into their health and wellness focused medical cannabis dispensary store by Clodagh.
As shown above, a dominant feature of the space is a 20 ft living plant wall. beneath a skylight.with supplementary high-lux LED lights that give the plants what they need to survive in the long-term, all year round.
Thanks to adequate light levels and an in-built irrigation system, there are close on 2500 plants in the wall providing not just air=purifying benefits (neutralizing volatile organic compounds while absorbing mildew and spores) for the space but also a sense of calm and natural vitality from bringing the outside world in.
A Feng Shui water feature provides natural background noise through the movement of running water. From wall to floor, natural elements of oak wood and stone are used to create a reassuring, zen interior.
Dockside Cannabis Seattle
https://www.dezeen.com/2019/11/19/graham-baba-architects-seattle-cannabis-dispensary/
Located in Seattle, Washington, Dockside Cannabis was converted into a local dispensary clinic from a pre-existing structure. It was designed to redefine the typical, often uninspiring retail experience of marijuana through the creation of a tranquil and inviting environment inspired by biophilic design interiors.
Making not only the interior of the building look open and welcoming but also the exterior facade was intended to reduce any lingering stigma around entering a marijuana store. Large windows fill the wall allowing light fill the interior space. They are complemented by a large skylight above and organic, wabi-sabi wood displays below.
Sunshine filters downward through the scissor trusses forming unique shadows within the space. From the trusses, hanging plants flourish under the natural lighting. Vines grow down into the space from these hanging plants alongside a variety of other living plants to create an abundant nature-inspired interior experience inspired by nature.
Dutch Love Ottawa
Dutch love is a cannabis dispensary located in Ottawa, Ontario that has taken a unique twist on biophilic design in its retail interiors, primarily via a clever feature in their display table joinery that uses opaque sheets of backlit plastic board with a plethora of potted plants inside, kept alive with grow lights built into the cabinetry.
By leveraging a feature of cannabis production in the interiors, while also connecting with biophilia and nature in this way, the store immediately stands out from the crowd. The rest of the space is neutral, with whitewashed walls and minimalist wood shelving structures for product displays, pot plants and lamps.
Filing the space between each storage shelf are slabs of material placed within the cubby made from an array of materials, from organically broken pieces of rock sitting next to each other, to large slabs of wood, and polished slabs of stone.