Biophilic Learning Environment Designer Agent Skill

Redesign a learning space using biophilic design principles to improve focus, calm, and wellbeing.

Context cost
6.2k tokensestimated from the bundle, loaded when it triggers
Bundle
1 file · 24.9 kBtext throughout, nothing executable
Licence
not declarednone named by its author
Last change
—v1.0
Servers it uses
Noneruns standalone

What it does

Redesign a learning space using biophilic design principles to improve focus, calm, and wellbeing. Use when classroom environment contributes to restlessness, poor attention, or stress.

What this skill changes about the agent has not been set out here as a list. Its SKILL.md, shown below, says it in the author’s own words.

attention-restorationbiophilic-designclassroom-environmentdocumentationkaplankellertnaturewellbeing

The skill itself

A skill is instructions the model reads, so you can see what you are getting: below is the start of its SKILL.md. The front matter loads with every session, the body loads when the skill triggers, and the whole file comes with the install.

SKILL.md24.9 kB · preview
--- # AGENT SKILLS STANDARD FIELDS (v2) name: biophilic-learning-environment-designer disable-model-invocation: false user-invocable: true effort: medium # EXISTING FIELDS skill_id: "environmental-experiential-learning/biophilic-learning-environment-designer" skill_name: "Biophilic Learning Environment Designer" domain: "environmental-experiential-learning" version: "1.0" evidence_strength: "emerging" evidence_sources: - "Kellert (2005) — Building for Life: designing and understanding the human-nature connection" - "Kellert, Heerwagen & Mador (2008) — Biophilic Design: the theory, science, and practice of bringing buildings to life" - "Kaplan & Kaplan (1989) — The Experience of Nature: a psychological perspective (Attention Restoration Theory)" - "Wells (2000) — At home with nature: effects of 'greenness' on children's cognitive functioning" - "Browning, Ryan & Clancy (2014) — 14 Patterns of Biophilic Design: improving health and well-being in the built environment" input_schema: required: - field: "current_space" type: "string" - field: "design_goal" type: "string" optional: - field: "student_level" type: "string" - field: "budget_level" type: "string" - field: "space_constraints" type: "string" - field: "existing_nature_access" type: "string" - field: "sensory_needs" type: "string" output_schema: type: "object" fields: - field: "biophilic_design" type: "object" - field: "priority_changes" type: "array" - field: "implementation_plan" type: "object" - field: "evidence_rationale" type: "object" chains_well_with: - "outdoor-learning-sequence-designer" - "flow-state-condition-designer" - "belonging-classroom-culture-designer" - "ecological-inquiry-anchor-designer" teacher_time: "3 minutes" tags: ["biophilic-design", "Kellert", "Kaplan", "attention-restoration", "classroom-environment", "nature", "wellbeing"] ---
70# Biophilic Learning Environment Designer
71
72## What This Skill Does
73
74Redesigns a classroom or learning space to incorporate biophilic design elements — features that connect occupants to nature and natural processes, based on the evidence that human cognitive functioning, stress levels, and attention are improved by contact with natural environments. The approach draws on Kellert's (2005, 2008) biophilic design framework and Kaplan & Kaplan's (1989) Attention Restoration Theory. The critical insight is that most classrooms are biophilic deserts — sealed, artificial environments with fluorescent lighting, uniform surfaces, no living things, and no sensory variety — and that even small changes (plants, natural light, nature views, natural materials, water sounds) can measurably improve attention, reduce stress, and increase engagement. The output includes a design proposal with specific changes organised by biophilic design pattern, priority recommendations ranked by impact and cost, an implementation plan, and the evidence rationale for each change. AI is specifically valuable here because translating biophilic design principles into practical classroom modifications requires simultaneously considering the evidence base, the physical constraints of the space, the budget, and the specific needs of the students — a design challenge that benefits from systematic pattern-matching.
75
76## Evidence Foundation
77
78Kellert (2005) defined biophilia as "the inherently human inclination to affiliate with natural systems and processes" and argued that buildings designed to satisfy this inclination produce better cognitive, emotional, and physical outcomes for their occupants. Kellert, Heerwagen & Mador (2008) developed a comprehensive biophilic design framework identifying six elements: environmental features (plants, water, natural light), natural shapes and forms (botanical motifs, curved lines), natural patterns and processes (sensory variability, growth, ageing), light and space (natural light, spatial variability), place-based relationships (connection to local ecology and culture), and evolved human-nature relationships (prospect and refuge, mystery, risk/peril). Kaplan & Kaplan (1989) proposed Attention Restoration Theory (ART), arguing that directed attention (the effortful focus required for academic work) is a depletable resource, and that exposure to nature restores it. Natural environments are "softly fascinating" — they capture attention without demanding effort, allowing directed attention to recover. This has direct implications for classrooms: students in nature-connected spaces should show better sustained attention than students in nature-depleted spaces. Wells (2000) found that children who moved to homes with more "greenness" (nature views, vegetation, natural elements) showed significant improvements in cognitive functioning, even controlling for other variables. Browning, Ryan & Clancy (2014) synthesised the evidence into 14 practical patterns of biophilic design, providing the most actionable framework for applying biophilic principles to specific spaces.
79
80## Input Schema
81
82The teacher must provide:
83- **Current space:** What the room looks like now. *e.g. "Standard classroom — 30 desks in rows, fluorescent strip lighting, two windows facing the car park, cream walls, vinyl floor, one whiteboard, one display board. No plants. Blinds usually closed because of screen glare." / "Open-plan learning area — flexible seating, some natural light from skylights, carpet, display walls, no windows at student eye-level. Currently quite cluttered."*
84- **Design goal:** What they want to improve. *e.g. "Students struggle to focus after lunch — energy is scattered and attention is poor" / "The room feels sterile and institutional — I want it to feel calmer and more inviting" / "I want to create a calming corner for students who need sensory regulation"*
85
86Optional (injected by context engine if available):
87- **Student level:** Age group
88- **Budget level:** Available resources
This is a preview of SKILL.md. Download or install the skill to get the whole thing.
In the file
SKILL.md3,431 words
Files1
Licencenot declared
Why you can read it

Nothing in a skill executes. The client loads the text and the model follows it, so a skill can be audited the way a runbook is — by reading it.

What it costs in context

Skills are not billed by the call. They are paid for in context: every token the instructions occupy is a token your code, your diff and your conversation cannot use. Here is what this one takes and when it takes it.

≈840
always loaded
The name and description, so the model knows the skill exists and when to reach for it.
5,385
on trigger
The instruction body, read only when the skill fires.
3.1%
of a 200k window
Ten skills this size would take about 31% of the window before you open a file.
050k100k150k200k context window

6.2k tokens, estimated from the bundle at four bytes to the token, held for the rest of the session once it triggers. Heavy. Teams tend to install this one per project rather than globally, and load it only when the job comes up.

Servers bill, skills cost

A server charges by the month. A skill charges once per session, in context, and then keeps charging it for as long as the session lives.

Before and after

The same question, put to the same model twice: once as it comes, and once with these instructions loaded.

No worked example has been published for this skill yet.

The procedure it runs

The procedure has not been set out here step by step. It is in the body of its SKILL.md: the start of it is shown above, and the whole file comes with the install.

Prose, not code

These steps are written for a model to follow, not executed by a runtime. It can still be told to skip one, and it will say so when it does.

Servers it uses

None. This skill calls no MCP servers at all.

Everything it needs is in the instructions, so it works in a project with nothing connected — the model reads the file and changes how it works with what it can already reach.

Its SKILL.md does not declare which tools it asks the agent for, so what it touches is whatever the instructions themselves ask for — read them before you install it.

What it asks for
Writes filesnot declared
Network accessnot declared

This SKILL.md carries no allowed-tools line, so neither is declared. A skill grants no permissions of its own — it can only ask for tools your client already has.

What it will not do

Every skill is narrow, and the useful ones say where they stop. These are the jobs this one is the wrong tool for.

What this skill is not for has not been published here. Nothing is implied by that: it is a section the author has not filled in.

What is in the bundle

1 file, 24.9 kB on disk. A bundle is text throughout: the instructions the model reads, plus the templates it fills in.

  • SKILL.md24.9 kB
What is not in it

No dependencies and nothing executable: a skill is text the agent reads, so the bundle is 1 file you can review in full before installing.

Install

Installing copies the bundle into your project. Nothing runs at install time — the files sit on disk until the model reads them.

# Biophilic Learning Environment Designer · 6.2k tokens when loaded · macOS, Linux mkdir -p .claude/skills && t=$(mktemp -d) && curl -fsSL -o "$t/bundle.tar.gz" https://mcprush.com/api/skills/biophilic-learning-environment-designer/bundle.tar.gz && tar -xzf "$t/bundle.tar.gz" -C "$t" && [ -d "$t/biophilic-learning-environment-designer" ] && { [ ! -e .claude/skills/biophilic-learning-environment-designer ] || { mv .claude/skills/biophilic-learning-environment-designer "$t/.previous" && echo "Previous copy moved to $t/.previous"; }; } && mv "$t/biophilic-learning-environment-designer" .claude/skills/ && echo "Installed .claude/skills/biophilic-learning-environment-designer"
On Windows, or any OS with Node 20+
npx mcprush@latest skill add garethmanning/biophilic-learning-environment-designer

Windows PowerShell says 'running scripts is disabled on this system'? Run Set-ExecutionPolicy -Scope CurrentUser RemoteSigned once, or type npx.cmd instead of npx (codex.cmd, gemini.cmd, grok.cmd likewise). PowerShell 7 needs neither. Writes to .claude/skills/biophilic-learning-environment-designer/ in the current project. For every project instead, run mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && t=$(mktemp -d) && curl -fsSL -o "$t/bundle.tar.gz" https://mcprush.com/api/skills/biophilic-learning-environment-designer/bundle.tar.gz && tar -xzf "$t/bundle.tar.gz" -C "$t" && [ -d "$t/biophilic-learning-environment-designer" ] && { [ ! -e ~/.claude/skills/biophilic-learning-environment-designer ] || { mv ~/.claude/skills/biophilic-learning-environment-designer "$t/.previous" && echo "Previous copy moved to $t/.previous"; }; } && mv "$t/biophilic-learning-environment-designer" ~/.claude/skills/ && echo "Installed ~/.claude/skills/biophilic-learning-environment-designer" (macOS, Linux) — or add --global to the npx line. The curl line replaces .claude/skills/biophilic-learning-environment-designer/ only after the download succeeds, so files left there by another skill of the same name, or by an older release, do not mix in. A copy already there is moved aside, not deleted, and the line prints where.

Which clients pick it up on their own

A skill is a folder of text. Most of these read a skills folder and pick it up without being told; the rest take the same folder another way — an upload in the app, a parameter on an API call — and then choose it by its description just the same.

Claude Code.claude/skills/
Claude DesktopCustomize › Skills
ChatGPTSkills › Create › Upload
Cursor.cursor/skills/
VS Code.github/skills/
Codex CLI.agents/skills/
Gemini CLI.gemini/skills/
Grok Build.grok/skills/
Microsoft CopilotSkills › Upload a skill
PerplexityComputer › Skills › Upload a skill
DeepSeek Harness.dsh/skills/
Zed.agents/skills/
Devin Desktop.devin/skills/
Windsurf (legacy).windsurf/skills/
OpenAI Agents SDKInstructions or sandbox Skills
HTTP / APIa request parameter
This release
Version1.0
Publishedno release date on file
PriceFree
Referencegarethmanning/biophilic-learning-environment-designer

Versions

v1.0 is what is on the shelf; no release here carries a date. Instructions change more often than APIs do — a skill can be rewritten entirely without anything it depends on moving.

v1.0
  • No earlier releases have been published to the marketplace.
Pinning

The install command always fetches the release that is current the day you run it — v1.0 today — and cannot ask for an earlier one. The copy on your disk does not change until you run it again.

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