Abstract
This study examines biophilic design as a sustainable architectural strategy for enhancing student experience and academic-related performance in secondary schools in Lagos State, Nigeria, with particular focus on high-density urban contexts such as Victoria Island. Rapid urbanisation, heat stress, and infrastructural constraints increasingly affect indoor environmental quality (IEQ) in tropical educational settings, thereby influencing student comfort, attentiveness, and engagement. Drawing on contemporary biophilic and environmental psychology scholarship (Fisher, 2024; Browning & Determan, 2024), this research investigates how daylight optimisation, natural ventilation, vegetation integration, and climate-responsive spatial configuration shape learning environments within Lagos secondary schools. A qualitative multiple case study approach was adopted, grounded in an interpretivist framework. Data were collected through non-participant observation, spatial documentation, and semi-structured interviews with students, teachers, and administrators across selected schools. Thematic analysis revealed five dominant findings: environmental comfort significantly influences cognitive attentiveness; visual connectivity to vegetation supports psychological restoration; spatial configuration mediates environmental perception; climatic responsiveness determines functional performance; and maintenance governance critically affects long-term biophilic effectiveness. The results indicate that classrooms incorporating cross-ventilation, shaded openings, courtyard typologies, and vegetated landscapes are associated with reduced perceived stress, improved attentional engagement, and enhanced environmental satisfaction. However, the sustainability of these interventions depends on institutional maintenance capacity and integrated architectural planning. The study concludes that biophilic design, when holistically applied and climate-adapted, functions as both a performance-based environmental strategy and a pedagogical support mechanism in tropical urban school contexts. By providing context-specific evidence from West Africa, this research contributes to the global discourse on sustainable educational architecture and informs climate-responsive school design policy in rapidly urbanising cities.