Lessons Learned During the Pandemic

Lots of environmental psychology research was conducted during the pandemic and investigators largely confirmed findings from previous studies.  Data collected during the pandemic, mainly during 2020 and 2021, verified that:

• Ventilation has a significant effect on human wellbeing and performance.
• Natural light boosts our mood, people in homes with more of it fared better psychologically.
• Access to green space, in nearby, comfortably walkable parks, or, even better, in private spaces in gardens/back yards or on balconies/terraces, has a very powerful and positive effect on human wellbeing, how comfortable we feel generally.
• Green plants indoors can elevate mood and cognitive performance all while helping the people looking at them feel fresher mentally.
• Spaces tailored to function make it more likely that desired situations ensue—for example, people with dedicated home office spaces had better at home work experiences than those who didn’t.
• Good design still
  • Sends the right messages silently, without words, to users and onlookers, which is covered in this Space Doctors article  https://thespacedoctors.com/index.php/2022/06/01/hearing-the-right-silent-messages/
  • Builds in ways to refresh mentally (discussed in this article) https://thespacedoctors.com/index.php/2022/01/28/keep-your-mind-and-body-refreshed/
  • Develops spaces biophilicly, as detailed here  https://thespacedoctors.com/index.php/this-months-feature/2022-april-biophilic-design/
  • Provides users with comfortable levels of control over the environments they’re in, reviewed in detail here  https://thespacedoctors.com/index.php/2022/06/01/being-in-control/