Homes That Heal

When Fred Wilson and his wife Elissa Morgante, co-founders of Morgante WilsonArchitects in Chicago, look out their window, they see far more than a glimpse of Lake Michigan. Their vista isn’t just a pretty scene; it brings them psychological and physical benefits.

“At our home on Lake Michigan and in the homes we design for our clients, we don’t just frame the view. We create a way to look across the view into the distance,” Mr. Wilson says. “We bring glass windows and doors all the way to the floor, so in the foreground, you see our garden, in the middle you see the lawn, and in the distance, you see the water.”

Custom-home architects nearly always design site-specific residences that connect with their natural surroundings. For many, the term “biophilic design” simply puts a name to something they have done for their entire careers: embracing nature as part of the design process.

Simply put, biophilic design “makes people feel good,” says Rick Cook, a founding partner of CookFox Architects in New York.

“We’ve known that anecdotally throughout history, but now researchers help us understand the importance of connecting with nature and how we can design buildings to enhance that relationship,” Mr. Cook says.

While biophilic design might seem to fit best in an area with spectacular natural views, such as mountains, water, or desert, the design aesthetic can be found everywhere, including single-family homes and condos.

According to 14 Patterns of Biophilic Design, a 2014report by Terrapin Bright Green, a sustainability consulting firm, numerous studies show that connecting with nature reduces stress, improves concentration, lowers blood pressure, increases productivity, improves moods, and makes people feel safer.

“Biophilic design means more than adding a green wall to a lobby,” says Josh Kassing, vice president of design and development for Mary Cook Associates, an interior design firm based in Chicago. “Designers have done a good job of bringing in the visual elements of biophilic design, such as views of ponds and trees, but in the future, I think we’ll see more integration of all five senses. It’s about lighting, sound, smells, and textures, too.”

Building with wood, stone, and natural materials can be part of biophilic design, along with using fabrics that mimic nature, he says.

“At its core, biophilic design is less about what applied to a house and more about the layout and the visual connection to the outdoors that makes people comfortable,” Mr. Kassing says. “It’s important for biophilic design to be a priority from the beginning, to be site-specific first, then for architects and designers to layer in space-planning and decor.”

Connecting Homes With Nature

Tyler Jones, founder of Blue Heron Homes in Las Vegas, designing a house is about creating an emotional experience for residents and their guests.

“We want to design homes that make you feel good physically and emotionally,” Mr. Jones says. “People are wired to feel good with a wide vantage point where they can feel safe and protected in a cozy space with a view.”

Mr. Jones integrates water into his home designs for its calming effect, and carefully considers air flow and cross ventilation. He adds fire pits and fireplaces to satisfy the innate need for warmth and integrates natural living plants wherever possible.

“At our ‘Vegas Modern 001’ showcase home in Las Vegas, we designed the home with an intentional journey, from a portal of locally sourced stone at the entrance that feels like a natural canyon, then past desert landscaping that has a water feature that trickles into the home,” Mr Jones says. “Throughout the home, we have glass pocket doors, so you don’t always know whether you’re inside or outside.” Even the primary bedroom has an indoor-outdoor bathroom with pocket doors leading to a private outdoor shower and an outdoor tub with a long view across the desert to the Las Vegas Strip, he adds.

Jim Rill, founder of Rill Architects in Bethesda, Maryland, makes nature part of every home he designs.

“I start with the sight lines and the flow of a house to create an ease of movement between the controlled environment inside the house and nature,” Mr. Rill says. “The best rooms in your house are outside, so we design homes so that you don’t feel the difference between being inside or outside.”

For example, Mr. Rill created an outdoor living room when he renovated a house on a lake in Reston, Virginia, and added walls of glass to connect the interior living space with the outdoors. Materials such as stone and wood link the rooms to the surrounding trees and shoreline. Rill designed a new home on Little Assawoman Bay in Delaware with a wood interior that resembles a ship.

“The owners wanted two separate houses connected by a breezeway, so they could entertain guests but have their privacy,” Mr. Rillsays. “The most important part of the house is the bay itself, so we designed the houses on either side of a pointed deck that leads your eyes to the horizon across the bay.”

The flow of space in a home, also part of biophilic design, can help residents relax.

“We designed one home with a courtyard in the centre that’s completely open-air yet enclosed so that during a snowstorm it seems like it’s snowing inside the house,” Mr. Wilson says. “We ran a stone wall from outside the front door through the courtyard and the family room and out to the backyard, to pull your eyes through the entire house.”

Floor-to-ceiling glass pocket or bifold doors offer opportunities for a seamless transition between indoor and outdoor rooms. Mr.Wilson designed a home with an indoor swimming pool with a 50-foot-wide glasswall on one side that could be opened during pleasant weather.

Biophilic Design in Urban Locations

Urbansite constraints challenge architects’ and developers’ ability to increase residents exposure to nature. For example, at 25 Park Row, a 50-storey condo in manhattan designed by CookFox Architects, every apartment faces City Hall Parkand includes railings with botanical patterns that filter light as if its coming through the trees in the park, Mr. Cook says. 25 Park Row opened to residents in summer 2020.

The upper floors of the building include views of theEast River, the Hudson River, and New York Harbor. CookFox’s condo at 378 WestEnd Avenue on the Upper West Side overlooks the historic Collegiate Church.

“We try to replicate that feeling of being on your front porch looking out at the world with the refuge of your home behind you,” Mr. Cook says. “In a high-rise, that can mean a loggia where you feel a sense of enclosure while you’re outside, or a Juliet balcony, so you feel the fresh air while you’re still inside.”

Exposure to seasonal and daily changes in light patterns help people feel better, Mr. Cook says.

Views of water and greenery can be especially important in urban environments like New York and Chicago.

“Every residence will have a view into a one-acre park, Lake Michigan, or the Chicago River at the Cirrus condos and Cascadeapartments in Lakeshore East in Chicago,” says Linda Kozloski, creative design director of LendLease, a property and investments group headquartered in Chicago. The residences are designed with floor-to-ceiling glass for full exposure to the views.

“We designed the conservatory, an interior courtyard that faces south into the park, with natural wood floors and pebbles and big tropical plants, so that residents can take advantage of the sunlight and warm environment even when it’s cold outside,” Ms. Kozloski says.

Back in New York, in Brooklyn’s Gowanus neighbourhood, Tankhouse developers and SO-IL architects created 450 Warren, an 18-unit condo building where every apartment has an exterior entrance.

“Instead of designing one big block, we designed three towers with three courtyards,” says Florian Idenburg, an architect and partner with SO-IL in Brooklyn. “We pulled all the connections between the units outside, so the homes are linked with exterior corridors, bridges, and stairs. Every home has private outdoor space and at least three orientations to the outside, so they can trace the sunlight throughout the day.”

Incorporating Biophilic Design IntoExisting Homes

The benefits of biophilic design can be achieved on a smaller scale in existing homes.

“Even if you don’t have a big view, you can use natural materials like wood and stone and bring in inspirational artwork to give the illusion of blue sky,” Ms. Kozloski says. “Potted plants can bring greenery inside and filter the air.”

Something as simple as opening your windows in all kinds of weather and seeking out even the smallest view of nature, such as a pot of flowers, can bring some of the mental benefits of biophilic design, Mr. Wilson says.

This article first appeared in the Summer 2021 issue of Mansion Global Experience Luxury.

PARIS —Paris has long been a byword for luxurious living. The traditional components of the upscale home, from parquet floors to elaborate moldings, have their origins here. Yet settling down in just the right address in this low-rise, high-density city may be the greatest luxury of all.

Tradition reigns supreme in Paris real estate, where certain conditions seem set in stone—the western half of the city, on either side of the Seine, has long been more expensive than the east. But in the fashion world’s capital, parts of the housing market are also subject to shifting fads. In the trendy, hilly northeast, a roving cool factor can send prices in this year’s hip neighborhood rising, while last year’s might seem like a sudden bargain.

This week, with the opening of the Olympic Games and the eyes of the world turned toward Paris, The Wall Street Journal looks at the most expensive and desirable areas in the City of Light.

The Most Expensive Arrondissement: the 6th

Known for historic architecture, elegant apartment houses and bohemian street cred, the 6th Arrondissement is Paris’s answer to Manhattan’s West Village. Like its New York counterpart, the 6th’s starving-artist days are long behind it. But the charm that first wooed notable residents like Gertrude Stein and Jean-Paul Sartre is still largely intact, attracting high-minded tourists and deep-pocketed homeowners who can afford its once-edgy, now serene atmosphere.

Le Breton George V Notaires, a Paris notary with an international clientele, says the 6th consistently holds the title of most expensive arrondissement among Paris’s 20 administrative districts, and 2023 was no exception. Last year, average home prices reached $1,428 a square foot—almost 30% higher than the Paris average of $1,100 a square foot.

According to Meilleurs Agents, the Paris real estate appraisal company, the 6th is also home to three of the city’s five most expensive streets. Rue de Furstemberg, a secluded loop between Boulevard Saint-Germain and the Seine, comes in on top, with average prices of $2,454 a square foot as of March 2024.

For more than two decades, Kyle Branum, a 51-year-old attorney, and Kimberly Branum, a 60-year-old retired CEO, have been regular visitors to Paris, opting for apartment rentals and ultimately an ownership interest in an apartment in the city’s 7th Arrondissement, a sedate Left Bank district known for its discreet atmosphere and plutocratic residents.

“The 7th was the only place we stayed,” says Kimberly, “but we spent most of our time in the 6th.”

In 2022, inspired by the strength of the dollar, the Branums decided to fulfil a longstanding dream of buying in Paris. Working with Paris Property Group, they opted for a 1,465-square-foot, three-bedroom in a building dating to the 17th century on a side street in the 6th Arrondissement. They paid $2.7 million for the unit and then spent just over $1 million on the renovation, working with Franco-American visual artist Monte Laster, who also does interiors.

The couple, who live in Santa Barbara, Calif., plan to spend about three months a year in Paris, hosting children and grandchildren, and cooking after forays to local food markets. Their new kitchen, which includes a French stove from luxury appliance brand Lacanche, is Kimberly’s favourite room, she says.

Another American, investor Ashley Maddox, 49, is also considering relocating.

In 2012, the longtime Paris resident bought a dingy, overstuffed 1,765-square-foot apartment in the 6th and started from scratch. She paid $2.5 million and undertook a gut renovation and building improvements for about $800,000. A centrepiece of the home now is the one-time salon, which was turned into an open-plan kitchen and dining area where Maddox and her three children tend to hang out, American-style. Just outside her door are some of the city’s best-known bakeries and cheesemongers, and she is a short walk from the Jardin du Luxembourg, the Left Bank’s premier green space.

“A lot of the majesty of the city is accessible from here,” she says. “It’s so central, it’s bananas.” Now that two of her children are going away to school, she has listed the four-bedroom apartment with Varenne for $5 million.

The Most Expensive Neighbourhoods: Notre-Dame and Invalides

Garrow Kedigian is moving up in the world of Parisian real estate by heading south of the Seine.

During the pandemic, the Canada-born, New York-based interior designer reassessed his life, he says, and decided “I’m not going to wait any longer to have a pied-à-terre in Paris.”

He originally selected a 1,130-square-foot one-bedroom in the trendy 9th Arrondissement, an up-and-coming Right Bank district just below Montmartre. But he soon realised it was too small for his extended stays, not to mention hosting guests from out of town.

After paying about $1.6 million in 2022 and then investing about $55,000 in new decor, he put the unit up for sale in early 2024 and went house-shopping a second time. He ended up in the Invalides quarter of the 7th Arrondissement in the shadow of one Paris’s signature monuments, the golden-domed Hôtel des Invalides, which dates to the 17th century and is fronted by a grand esplanade.

His new neighbourhood vies for Paris’s most expensive with the Notre-Dame quarter in the 4th Arrondissement, centred on a few islands in the Seine behind its namesake cathedral. According to Le Breton, home prices in the Notre-Dame neighbourhood were $1,818 a square foot in 2023, followed by $1,568 a square foot in Invalides.

After breaking even on his Right Bank one-bedroom, Kedigian paid $2.4 million for his new 1,450-square-foot two-bedroom in a late 19th-century building. It has southern exposures, rounded living-room windows and “gorgeous floors,” he says. Kedigian, who bought the new flat through Junot Fine Properties/Knight Frank, plans to spend up to $435,000 on a renovation that will involve restoring the original 12-foot ceiling height in many of the rooms, as well as rescuing the ceilings’ elaborate stucco detailing. He expects to finish in 2025.

Over in the Notre-Dame neighbourhood, Belles demeures de France/Christie’s recently sold a 2,370-square-foot, four-bedroom home for close to the asking price of about $8.6 million, or about $3,630 a square foot. Listing agent Marie-Hélène Lundgreen says this places the unit near the very top of Paris luxury real estate, where prime homes typically sell between $2,530 and $4,040 a square foot.

The Most Expensive Suburb: Neuilly-sur-Seine

The Boulevard Périphérique, the 22-mile ring road that surrounds Paris and its 20 arrondissements, was once a line in the sand for Parisians, who regarded the French capital’s numerous suburbs as something to drive through on their way to and from vacation. The past few decades have seen waves of gentrification beyond the city’s borders, upgrading humble or industrial districts to the north and east into prime residential areas. And it has turned Neuilly-sur-Seine, just northwest of the city, into a luxury compound of first resort.

In 2023, Neuilly’s average home price of $1,092 a square foot made the leafy, stately community Paris’s most expensive suburb.

Longtime residents, Alain and Michèle Bigio, decided this year is the right time to list their 7,730-square-foot, four-bedroom townhouse on a gated Neuilly street.

The couple, now in their mid 70s, completed the home in 1990, two years after they purchased a small parcel of garden from the owners next door for an undisclosed amount. Having relocated from a white-marble château outside Paris, the couple echoed their previous home by using white- and cream-coloured stone in the new four-story build. The Bigios, who will relocate just back over the border in the 16th Arrondissement, have listed the property with Emile Garcin Propriétés for $14.7 million.

The couple raised two adult children here and undertook upgrades in their empty-nester years—most recently, an indoor pool in the basement and a new elevator.

The cool, pale interiors give way to dark and sardonic images in the former staff’s quarters in the basement where Alain works on his hobby—surreal and satirical paintings, whose risqué content means that his wife prefers they stay downstairs. “I’m not a painter,” he says. “But I paint.”

The Trendiest Arrondissement: the 9th

French interior designer Julie Hamon is theatre royalty. Her grandfather was playwright Jean Anouilh, a giant of 20th-century French literature, and her sister is actress Gwendoline Hamon. The 52-year-old, who divides her time between Paris and the U.K., still remembers when the city’s 9th Arrondissement, where she and her husband bought their 1,885-square-foot duplex in 2017, was a place to have fun rather than put down roots. Now, the 9th is the place to do both.

The 9th, a largely 19th-century district, is Paris at its most urban. But what it lacks in parks and other green spaces, it makes up with nightlife and a bustling street life. Among Paris’s gentrifying districts, which have been transformed since 2000 from near-slums to the brink of luxury, the 9th has emerged as the clear winner. According to Le Breton, average 2023 home prices here were $1,062 a square foot, while its nearest competitors for the cool crown, the 10th and the 11th, have yet to break $1,011 a square foot.

A co-principal in the Bobo Design Studio, Hamon—whose gut renovation includes a dramatic skylight, a home cinema and air conditioning—still seems surprised at how far her arrondissement has come. “The 9th used to be well known for all the theatres, nightclubs and strip clubs,” she says. “But it was never a place where you wanted to live—now it’s the place to be.”

With their youngest child about to go to college, she and her husband, 52-year-old entrepreneur Guillaume Clignet, decided to list their Paris home for $3.45 million and live in London full-time. Propriétés Parisiennes/Sotheby’s is handling the listing, which has just gone into contract after about six months on the market.

The 9th’s music venues were a draw for 44-year-old American musician and piano dealer, Ronen Segev, who divides his time between Miami and a 1,725-square-foot, two-bedroom in the lower reaches of the arrondissement. Aided by Paris Property Group, Segev purchased the apartment at auction during the pandemic, sight unseen, for $1.69 million. He spent $270,000 on a renovation, knocking down a wall to make a larger salon suitable for home concerts.

During the Olympics, Segev is renting out the space for about $22,850 a week to attendees of the Games. Otherwise, he prefers longer-term sublets to visiting musicians for $32,700 a month.

Most Exclusive Address: Avenue Junot

Hidden in the hilly expanses of the 18th Arrondissement lies a legendary street that, for those in the know, is the city’s most exclusive address. Avenue Junot, a bucolic tree-lined lane, is a fairy-tale version of the city, separate from the gritty bustle that surrounds it.

Homes here rarely come up for sale, and, when they do, they tend to be off-market, or sold before they can be listed. Martine Kuperfis—whose Paris-based Junot Group real-estate company is named for the street—says the most expensive units here are penthouses with views over the whole of the city.

In 2021, her agency sold a 3,230-square-foot triplex apartment, with a 1,400-square-foot terrace, for $8.5 million. At about $2,630 a square foot, that is three times the current average price in the whole of the 18th.

Among its current Junot listings is a 1930s 1,220-square-foot townhouse on the avenue’s cobblestone extension, with an asking price of $2.8 million.