Create a Work Zone to help when Working from Home
Puglisi and colleagues studied the experiences of people working remotely and develop related recommendations. They report that data from their surveys of remote workers “show that 55% of the workers perform their activity in...
Learning Spaces – 1
Cognitive learning is hard, hard brain work, whether you’re 8 or 80. Spaces where you plan to learn new material, whether they’re a home schoolroom, a home office, or a classroom outside a home...
Learning Spaces – 2
One of the first questions that gets asked about the design on a physical learning space is what colours the walls and ceiling should be painted. Matte (not glossy) surfaces are generally the best...
Learning Spaces – 3
There are a range of educational philosophies and styles that teachers may favour and some more rigorously encourage movement during lessons than others. Movement requires a space to move in, and that can influence...
Planning a Party? – The Long Read
The PARTY CHECKLIST! It’s probably been a while since you’ve been able to plan any sort of gathering that includes more than you and your cat. Neuroscientists (who would no doubt by this time...
Dorm Rooms / Shared Kids Bedrooms
In a shared bedroom the main difference would be to make sure that each child has some space to put out/display a couple of things that remind them about what they value about themselves...
Future Space
Loads of people are proclaiming that future mingling will be much less prevalent than in the past. There’s even discussion of whether we’ll need offices in the future, for example here: https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20210721-whats-the-purpose-of-the-office-and-do-we-still-need-it There are...
Be Careful with the De-Cluttering!
At this point, many of us have been locked in our homes for so long that we’ve had a chance to clutter and are now thinking that the best option for our weekend amusement...
Space-By-Time
We’ve all had the experience of being in a café in the morning and being able to plough right through a backlog of work and returning at night to the same spot and having...
Managing Circadian Rhythms
More research on how lighting affects us. Also read on to learn how we are lighting our homes and spaces now we have access to electric light in a way that is counter-intuitive to...
Stressed? Walk on a Carpet…
Who would have thought that a little walk on a carpet can help reduce your stress level. Hoki, Sato, and Kasai’s research “focused on the effects of indoor flooring in the residential environment on stress,...
What’s up and What’s down
We think a lot about the vertical surfaces (walls) in the spaces where we find ourselves, but not so much about the horizontal ones, the ceilings and floors. Science is clear about how they...
Probably worth it!
In the fourth of our articles this month looking at the different design options you can try to improve your home at different price points, we suggest some tips and furnishings which cost a...
Really Low Cost
In the second article on designing the space to live the life you planned, we look at how you can change your home or office which will cost very little. Your house or office...
Design changes that are FREE!
Some changes you can make to your home or office can have a powerful effect on your wellbeing but are essentially free. Here is a useful list for you The single most important...
The Design Plan
Deciding on what to design first when you’re conscious of the size of your purse. Even the most organized of us, the ones living lives ordered beyond even the imaginations of mere mortals, only have...
Design and Physical Health
Design can support physical health in more than the expected ways. Use of safe materials, ones that don’t off gas toxins, for example, is an obvious design-based route to physical health. Design can make...
Designing your Yoga and Meditation Room
Yoga and meditation are routes that lots of us take to getting and staying mentally and physically healthy. Anyone who’s done either knows that there are some places where yoga or meditation seems to...
Eating out!
Restaurant Design Eating out is fun, and restaurants are often create places to spend time. Restaurants are also designed to encourage you to eat, particularly items that have great profit margins. Design significantly influences...
Colours Seen and Temperatures Perceived – “Science News”
The warmer the colour of the light around you, the warmer you feel. This might seem obvious, but studies continue to prove this the case, with significant results. So if it’s cold outside, maybe...
Designing to Boost Brain Performance – “Science News”
This is a tough time to be a human. Humankind needs to creatively resolve a multitude of challenges in the weeks and months and years ahead. That makes this a good time to apply...
Home Office, Home Design Challenge
Creating a home office where people work to their full potential, and have a reasonable level of wellbeing while doing so, is a lot more challenging than heading off to IKEA and bringing home...
Learning Spaces – The Long Read
Our brains have to work hard to learn new things. The forces building the knowledge bases inside our skulls (we’ll talk mainly about learning information and mental skills here, not more physical skills) need...
Designing In Awe – Why and How
There may not be any broader mental state we could talk about in this issue, which focuses on designing to boost brain performance, than awe. The spaces and objects in our lives which are...
Helping Our Memory Work Better, Via Design
Design decisions can help our memories work just a little better. In this article, we’ll cover how design can support the memories of those of us with regular old brains, specific issues raised by...
It’s Time for Squishy
We love curves and squishy furniture is in right now and there’s a science-based reason it is! You might like to introduce some of these designs into your home right now as we emerge...
Entertaining People from other Countries? Countries and Comfort
This is the article you need if you often entertain people from countries besides your own and you want them to feel comfortable. A questionnaire was sent to participants out in nine countries: Brazil,...
Checklist for Making Changes in Your Home
What to Change First? If you review your options and decide to remodel your current home, you need to decide what you should change first. In the articles in this month’s issue (May 2021...
Choosing a NEW HOME… the Long Read
If you’ve considered the stay-move list noted earlier and you’re going to find a new home, only relocate to a space that makes you feel good. Don’t choose to move into a space unless...
Where You Sleep…
This is SUCH an important list! Are the colours featured the not very saturated but relatively bright ones that humans find relaxing? Blues are good colors for bedrooms because we associate them with feeling...
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