Making BIG Spaces

If you want people to feel welcome and comfortable, especially in commercial environments, you would do well to pick up tips from Noble and Devlin’s recent study. The bigger the better it seems, makes people feel more comfortable.

As discussed in this article, design can alter the apparent size of spaces, making some seem spacious that, in fact, are not.  Noble and Devlin studied patient experiences in psychotherapy waiting rooms and their findings regarding spaciousness are no doubt relevant in other contexts, and even in Zoom-type sessions.  The research duo found via an online survey that “waiting rooms that were welcoming and comfortable as well as large and spacious rated higher for the quality of care and comfort in the environment anticipated by the participant; those that were cramped and crowded rated lower.”

Lilly Noble and Ann Devlin. 2021. “Perceptions of Psychotherapy Waiting Rooms:  Design Recommendations.”  HERD:  Health Environments Research and Design Journal, vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 140-154, https://doi.org/10.1177/19375867211001885