Wangûi Mwangi

Wangûi’s background is in art and design, and her interest in traditional African architecture, spirituality, culture and tribes is what makes her work so unique and beautifully blend together in interconnection with Nature.  Inspired by the sense of peace and belonging that her daily nature walks brought her, she dove into the world of biophilic design. Today, Wangûi is a green building consultant, working towards expanding awareness and credibility for biophilia through an African lens. She is dedicated to integrating African architecture, cultural heritage, and biophilic design to create sustainable, nature-connected spaces. Through her expertise, she promotes eco-conscious living by reawakening Indigenous knowledge systems and bridging the gap between modern development and humanity’s deep-rooted connection to nature.

We selected Wangûi because, beyond her talent and wisdom, we resonate deeply with her mission and were pulled to celebrate and shine more awareness to it.

“People who are connected to Nature will actually take care of the environment.”

How does time in Nature, and feeling connected to Nature, help you personally?

“I feel de-stressed when I spend time in Nature… It takes me away from my constant worries, they shut off because Nature is very cognitive, there is a lot of information variety that is happening. There is a bird flying, there’s a butterfly, there’s this scent that you’re picking up. It shuts out the noise in my head and I just am zen. I always feel very energized. I sleep so much better. I feel like I connect with people more when I’m in Nature, when I go for walks with people… it makes me more vulnerable.”

What advice do you have for people looking for a better connection with Nature?

“I think design is a very huge aspect of connecting people to Nature. Sometimes we look at incorporating Nature in your life as such a complex thing but really, it’s so simple because sometimes just the view of Nature is an aspect of connecting to it from your house, for example. Why don’t we have natural materials, things like wood, things like cork, when it comes to the seat, when it comes to the rugs. I think I’m speaking about this from a building perspective because that is where I mostly am. And we also spend most of our time in buildings. The way we are designing our spaces can really connect us to nature. Everything, the artwork, the materials, the partitioning, the ceilings…

There are so many ways of bringing Nature in, whether it’s bringing in plants or an LED water screen and when you light it up, the bubbles create the feeling of water raining, of rain, or a waterfall. When it comes to things like scent diffusers, you can have scents of mint or lavender. Or sounds of nature from the music that you’re listening to.”

What changes would you like to see to help more people access Nature and build positive, nurturing relationships with it?

“I’d love to see more people exposed to nature and even having regulations or laws that capture biophilic design. And that has to be a key element of any building space, whether it’s in the health care system, or it’s in the educational system, or commercial spaces. I’d want the whole country to be green and biophilic. Because, when you get to the deeper aspect of this, I think that these problems that we’re having of climate change and poor green spaces, on a larger scale, reveal internal problems that we have. People who are connected to nature will actually take care of the environment.

I’ve seen this by studying a lot of African traditional ways of life, architecture, etc. The connection that we had with nature was very profound. And when you look at people who have that connection from the time they’re growing up, whether it’s through the taboos, folk songs, the sacred animals and trees that will never be cut down. You’ll find that people who have that awareness also take care of the environment. But now, the fact that we grow up in urban areas with no connection to nature, nobody cares. Our environments look so empty and dirty because you have no awareness of how sacred Nature is. 

Nature should be brought into every aspect of life. From school, when you’re a small baby in terms of the curriculum, to religious people who go to church, Nature should be infused everywhere because when you have that connection, then we can be able to sort out all these issues at a global scale.”

Find out more about Wangûi and her work:

Wangûi’s LinkedIn

Wangûi’s TedTalk

Wangûi’s Biophilic Interview

Wangûi’s Instagram