Theatre for conversation
There are ways that design can make it more likely that you’ll have a constructive, mutually-beneficial conversation with someone else—whether you’re trying to negotiate world peace or help your teenager understand that they do...
More Walkable, Lower Healthcare Costs
New research confirms that walkability is good for us. Wali and colleagues examined “high resolution data for 476 participants in the Rails and Health study on health care costs, mode specific MVPA[ moderate-to-vigorous physical...
Things to note as you travel
Some things to note as you begin to travel far from home again: Climate varies dramatically based on distance from the equator and leads people to want to use spaces in different ways.For example,...
Where we grew up affects whether we get lost or not…
Ever wondered why some people you know always seem lost? Coutrot and colleagues report that “how the environment in which one grew up affects later cognitive abilities remains poorly understood. Here we used a...
How Music shapes our Accuracy
Santangelo and associates report that “music is frequently played while we are engaged in other activities that rely on decision-making (e.g., driving). . . . We analyzed response times and accuracy from more than...
It makes sense, so I see it better!
Rossel and teammates report that “Our study investigated the influence of expectations based on prior experience and contextual information on the perceived sharpness of objects and scenes… We manipulated the availability of relevant information...
Designing for All and Everyone
DeafSpace was developed at Gallaudet University years ago to spatially support people who are hard-of-hearing. As the article at the link below indicates, it is now being used to develop a major public space....
Windowless Dorms
We wrote before about the windowless dorm being built for students, and the negative impact it could have on them. Recent articles which report on the experiences of living in a windowless dormitory room...
Healthcare Costs Near Green Spaces
Van Den Eeden and teammates report that they “sought to determine if residential green cover was also associated with direct healthcare costs. We linked residential Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) satellite data for 5,189,303...
Less trees, hotter towns
Rouhollahi, Boland, and others conducted a study in Australia which found that “New housing subdivisions, smaller yards and a dependence on air conditioning have resulted in a 30 per cent decline in Australian residential...
Loud noises could give you a heart attack!
Avel Moreyra and colleagues that determined that “People experiencing high levels of noise from cars, trains or planes were more likely to suffer a heart attack. . . . Patients were divided into those...
Paper Choices
Allen shares that “research by Maferima Toure-Tillery [co-author Lili Wang]. . . finds that people are more likely to engage in virtuous behavior when they make their selections on paper than when they are using...
Curvy Lines and Balloons
Curvy Space The new American Museum of Natural History takes the use of curving lines to an extreme. How do you think it would feel to be in this space? Images of the museum: ...
How to build a communal space
Communal Living, Lessons Learned THE OPEN WORKSHOP developed the House of Commons exhibit “presenting over thirty-five case studies of past and present collective housing projects primarily in San Francisco and the Bay Area. In...
Evolution and Biophilic Design
Humans are a young species and still working with the same sorts of mental apparatus and ways of processing incoming information from our physical world that we had in our first few generations as...
Green Plants and Biophilic Design
Plants are important in any biophilically designed place, but biophilic designing involves much more than just distributing a few plants around. But since plants have come up, let’s start with them. Seeing green leafy...
De-clutter and then move those plants in…
If you live in a place with bad natural light, if you always forget to water (if this is you, please don’t ever bring home a kitty, puppy, or baby), or if things just...
Why we need Natural Materials
In biophilically designed spaces there are plenty of natural materials, slate and stone on floors, for example, and wood with visible grain on floors, walls, table tops, wherever it might be. Using wood with...
Colours and Biophilic Design
We have special relationships with some colours. Around the world, wherever you ask, people are more likely to tell you that the colour blue is their favourite colour than any other shade. Coincidentally, or...
Light, Sound and Movement
Flooding a space with natural light (minimizing glare with blinds as needed during certain times of the day, as needed) is biophilic design at its finest; it elevates our mood as well as our...
In conclusion – Biophilic Design in situ
Not surprisingly, research has shown that it’s best for our brains and our bodies if we layer multiple biophilic experiences together, so we’re hearing nature and seeing natural materials, and feeling the tickle of...
How to Design your Garden
There’s all sorts of science that can be applied to create a great garden—from studies of what sorts of fertilizer are best for dahlias when to how many hours of daylight petunias actually need...
The Science of Plazas, for Patios
What have neuroscientists learned about plaza design that you can apply in your patio: Design for what you actually want to happen on that patio.If you enjoy barbequing, not compromise on space for the...
Having a Positive, Productive Conversation
There are ways that design can make it more likely that you’ll have a constructive, mutually-beneficial conversation with someone else—whether you’re trying to negotiate world peace or help your teenager understand that they do...
Open the windows!
It’s open window time, pretty much worldwide! As long as you live in a place with clean air, there’s no time like the present to let some fresh air in. Lots of people like...
ADHD at work
Abrams studied people with ADHD during the pandemic and reports that “Working from home has also presented challenges for adults with ADHD, including dealing with the loss of boundaries—such as a dedicated workspace or...
Health and Neighbourhood Walkability
Howell and Booth tie neighborhood walkability and the presence of outdoor amenities to better health and fewer cases of diabetes among residents. They share that “researchers and policymakers alike have been searching for effective...
Choosing Others, Or Not
Uziel and Tomer Schmidt-Barad probed how having control and choosing to be alone or with others influence wellbeing. They share that “Stable social relationships are conducive to well-being. . . . The present investigation...
Looking at the Desert
Yin, Bratman, Browning, Spengler, and Olvera-Alvarez evaluated how seeing the desert scenes through a window affects stress levels. The Yin-lead team reports that they studied “the effect of a virtual reality (VR) exposure to...
Conspicuous Consumption and Social Jet Lag
Yin and Huang report that “People’s schedules are jointly determined by their biological clock and social clock. However, their social clock often deviates from the biological clock (e.g., having to get up earlier than...
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