One trend during Chicago Design Week had nothing to do with interior architecture, yet its impact is transforming the office. Plants and greenery were everywhere, not arranged on a shelf or tucked beside a reception desk, but woven into the walls, framing an entryway, dividing an open floor plan in the place where a glass partition might have stood five years ago.

Plants in the workplace are not a new idea. Across the commercial interiors industry, a fundamental rethinking is underway, one that’s moving plants out of the “finishing touches” category and into the architectural design conversation itself. Biophilic design has gone from trend to expectation, and companies that once ordered a few potted ficuses for the lobby are now asking for something far more ambitious.

Plantscape professionals across the country describe a client conversation that has changed markedly in just the past few years. Companies are no longer asking for a few plants in the corner. They want greenery woven into the actual structure of their spaces including walls, entryways and partitions. It’s a completely different ask than it was even five years ago.

That shift reflects something broader happening in how businesses think about the workplace environment. For years, the design industry talked about biophilic design in aspirational terms. What’s changed is the business case has hardened into data. Research now shows that environments rich in natural elements can boost cognitive function by 26% and improve worker productivity by 15%. Numbers like those have a way of moving plants from the décor budget to the capital investment conversation. When a CFO can point to measurable returns on a living wall installation, it stops being a soft amenity and starts being a strategic decision.

The implications for the contract interiors industry are significant. Specifying plants is no longer a matter of dropping a few line items into a furniture plan. When greenery becomes part of the architecture and integrated into structural columns, built into wall systems, designed as a central feature of an entryway rather than an afterthought beside it,  it demands the same level of intentionality that goes into any other designed element. That means earlier conversations with plantscape professionals, tighter coordination with architects and interior designers and a more sophisticated understanding of what species work in which conditions, under which lighting scenarios and at which scale.

It also raises the stakes on maintenance, a piece of the equation that often gets underestimated in the initial enthusiasm around a dramatic living wall or an interior garden feature. A few struggling plants in a corner is a minor aesthetic problem. A living wall that starts to fail in a prominent entryway is a visible, expensive one. The architectural integration that makes these installations so striking is also what makes consistent, expert upkeep non-negotiable. Responsiveness matters here in a way it simply didn’t when plants were decorative accessories. When greenery is a structural design element, a problem can’t wait two weeks for the next scheduled visit.

For designers and specifiers working in the commercial interiors space, the practical takeaway is about timing. Plantscape professionals need to be in the room earlier, not called in at the end of a project to add color, but engaged during the design phase when decisions about structure, lighting and spatial flow are still being made. A living wall that wasn’t planned for during construction can be difficult and expensive to retrofit. One that was designed in from the beginning can be transformative.

The broader arc here is one the contract interiors industry has seen before with other elements like lighting, acoustics and air quality, where what began as a wellness conversation eventually became a design fundamental. Plants appear to be on the same trajectory. The question for firms working in this space is not whether biophilic design is going to matter to their clients, but whether they are equipped to deliver it at the level clients are now expecting.