In the competitive landscape of commercial real estate, creating environments that prioritize human experience has become the new imperative. Commercial Real Estate firm JLL's latest research reveals four transformative trends driving design innovation in 2025 - and each points to an essential truth: spaces must now deliver more than aesthetic appeal. They must enhance wellbeing, foster connection, support sustainability goals, and incorporate evidence-based design principles.

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At the intersection of these emerging trends lies a powerful solution: biophilic design elements that bring the psychological benefits of nature indoors. Preserved gardens, moss walls, and vertical green installations have emerged as strategic investments that address multiple design priorities simultaneously. Here's how these elements are transforming commercial spaces along the four dimensions of modern workplace design.

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JLL's 2025 Workplace Trends Research: A New Era for Commercial Real Estate

In March 2025, JLL released groundbreaking research on the evolving commercial real estate landscape, identifying four key trends reshaping how we design, and experience built environments. This comprehensive study revealed that commercial real estate is entering a transformative period - one where technology, sustainability, and changing expectations about work are creating both challenges and opportunities.

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According to JLL's findings, successful spaces now require a thoughtful blend of experience design, flexibility, and technological integration, while simultaneously enhancing wellbeing and fostering human connection. The research explicitly notes that "pure aesthetics won't cut it anymore," signaling a significant shift toward multidimensional, purpose-driven environments.

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The four trends identified in this research - designing for a "street to seat experience," reimagining spaces for social connection, unlocking value through adaptive reuse, and embracing AI for science-led design - collectively point toward a more human-centric approach to commercial environments. Each trend represents a response to changing expectations about how physical spaces should function in a post-pandemic world where choice and experience are paramount.

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The Experiential Journey: Creating Memorable Touchpoints from "Street to Seat"

JLL's research highlights the importance of crafting seamless, distinctive transitions from city streets to workstations. This "street to seat" approach recognizes that the employee or customer experience begins long before someone reaches their desk or destination.

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Preserved gardens, moss walls, green walls crafted with preserved foliage serve as powerful landmarks and memory points throughout this journey. When strategically placed in lobbies, transition areas, and central gathering spaces, these biophilic installations create immediate visual impact that distinguishes a space in a competitive market. The ROI is clear: environments featuring these natural elements become more memorable, creating a positive first impression that enhances both talent attraction and retention.

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Garden on the Wall^®'s custom-designed preserved installations have transformed numerous commercial buildings, turning ordinary pathways into extraordinary experiences. With over 1,850 successful installations covering 178,000+ square feet, their team understands how to create visual touchpoints that elevate the entire journey through space. Unlike typical preserved garden or moss wall providers, GOTW's artisans craft seamless installations where individual moss sheets are expertly woven together, creating a natural, carpet-like appearance that maintains its beauty for over a decade.

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Social Architecture: Facilitating Authentic Connections Through Biophilic Elements

The most compelling finding in JLL's research is that social connection and workplace culture remain the primary drivers bringing people back to physical offices. This insight aligns perfectly with what neuroscience tells us about biophilic elements: they naturally draw people together and create environments conducive to meaningful interaction.

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Preserved gardens and moss walls serve as natural gathering points, creating what environmental psychologists call "sociopetal spaces"* - areas that naturally facilitate face-to-face interaction. These installations become more than decorative features; they transform into conversation catalysts and cultural touchpoints that strengthen organizational identity.

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* Sociopetal spaces: A term from environmental psychology describing physical arrangements that naturally encourage social interaction and bring people together, as opposed to spaces that keep people apart.

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The positive psychological effects of these biophilic elements extend beyond aesthetics. Research in neuroaesthetics - the study of how our brains respond to art and beauty - demonstrates that exposure to natural patterns and textures can reduce stress hormones while increasing the production of oxytocin, the "bonding hormone" that facilitates social connection.

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Garden on the Wall^®'s moss wall and preserved garden installations harness these principles through thoughtful design that considers both visual impact and spatial psychology. Their award-winning projects - recipients of three Interior Design Best of Year Awards and eight Architizer A+ Awards - demonstrate how preserved gardens, moss walls, planter inserts and even draping plants curated with preserved foliage can transform sterile environments into spaces that nurture community and belonging.

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Sustainable Transformation: Enhancing Commercial Real Estate Value Through Biophilic Retrofitting

As JLL reports, 60% of employers plan to increase investment in building refurbishments and sustainability over the next five years. This drive toward adaptive reuse presents a perfect opportunity for integrating preserved biophilic elements, which offer substantial environmental benefits without the resource demands of living walls.

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Garden on the Wall^®'s preserved greenery & foliage installations both in vertical and horizontal plane for multi-sensory experiences deliver the visual and psychological benefits of living plants while eliminating water consumption, maintenance requirements, and periodic replacements. Their industry-leading sustainability credentials include Health Product Declarations (HPD v2.3), compliance with California Department of Public Health VOC standards, and 100% bio-based carbon content verification - assurances that no other preserved garden or moss wall provider can match.

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The longevity of these installations - 10-12 years, extendable to 20+ years through GOTW's unique rejuvenation program - aligns perfectly with sustainable design principles. This extended lifecycle substantially reduces the total cost of ownership while supporting “circular economy” goals, making preserved gardens, moss walls and vertical gardens curated with preserved foliage an ideal component in salutogenic design approaches that prioritize both environmental and human health.

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The Science-Led Design Revolution: Biophilic Elements in Neuroarchitecture

The fourth trend identified by JLL involves the growing influence of science-led design, including Neuroarchitecture - the discipline exploring how built environments affect brain function and behavior. This emerging field confirms what biophilic design practitioners have long understood: environments that connect us with nature fundamentally enhance our cognitive functioning and emotional wellbeing.

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Preserved gardens, preserved green walls, moss walls contribute to this science-led approach by addressing the three key psychological dimensions identified in neuroarchitecture research: coherence (orderliness and comprehensibility), fascination (visual interest that engages attention), and hominess (a sense of comfort and belonging).

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Garden on the Wall^®'s custom-designed indoor preserved plantscape installations are created with these neurological principles in mind. Their team's expertise in biophilic design ensures that each installation maximizes positive psychological impact, transforming ordinary spaces into environments that actively support cognitive function and emotional wellbeing.

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Beyond Aesthetics: The Strategic Value of Preserved Gardens, Moss Walls, Preserved Plantscape

As commercial real estate evolves to meeting changing expectations, preserved plantscape represent one of the most versatile tools available to property owners, designers, and corporate occupiers. These installations don't just address aesthetic concerns - they deliver measurable benefits across all four dimensions identified in JLL's research.

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Garden on the Wall^®'s commitment to material transparency, health-focused testing, and unmatched longevity standards sets them apart in an industry where quality varies dramatically. Their installations deliver distinctive premium experience while maintaining the lowest cost of ownership over time.

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In a commercial real estate landscape increasingly focused on human experience, preserved gardens, moss walls, and planter inserts crafted with preserved foliage offer a compelling opportunity to differentiate spaces in meaningful ways. By incorporating these biophilic elements, forward-thinking organizations can create environments that don't just follow today's trends - they establish new standards for what commercial spaces can achieve.

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As we navigate this new era of human-centric design, one thing is clear: the spaces that thrive will be those that address both our innate connection to nature and our evolved needs for connection, sustainability, and evidence-based environments. Preserved plantscape offered by trusted, artful, sustainable and tested firms like Garden on the Wall^® stand at this critical intersection, offering a pathway to spaces that truly enhance human experience on every level.

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For more information on this subject and other related information, please visit our website:www.gardenonthewall.com