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...
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...
Odd Spaces can make Great Spaces!
If when you read “odd places” in the title of this article and thought, “at last, what I should do with that weird space under the stairs OR that 2 foot by 3 foot...
How to fix an Odd-space?
If your odd space is wrong-sized there are things you can do to alter how big or small it feels that don’t involve paint. A more brightly lit space seems larger than a less...
Nook spaces and visual complexity…
Your odd space may have spent part of its life as a nook and time as a nook can have a serious and powerfully negative effect on your future efforts to keep random stuff...
Places for Dogs, Cats, and Fish
Our pets, at the very least, seem like our very good friends, and we can make sure that they enjoy living in our homes as much as we enjoy having them share it with...
Merging Households
As the weather gets warmer, people move, and often people who are romantically linked decide to take the plunge and move in together. People who with tight enough bonds to decide to move in...
Burnout – What You Can Do in Your Home Office
“Burnout” may be the word of the moment. Many of us seem to be feeling some sort of malaise, and “burnout” seems like an appropriate label for our mental (and sometimes physical) exhaustion, and...
Living and Loving
February is love month. We’ve been hearing this since we have been old enough to hear anything at all. The consumer products juggernaut that fills all our communications with advertisements, sometimes now flowing like...
What does your home say about you?
At least according to the experts in these sorts of things, it seems most likely that people will form their most useful opinions of others when they actually have some idea who those other...
Love the planet too
Designing a place where you and other space users will feel comfortable and accomplish whatever you’re motivated to get done has more than the obvious positive implications. If a place works for you and...
Generation What?
We regularly hear that the generation that someone’s in should drive the design of the space they’re in. Tom Standage’s review of The Generation Myth: Why When You’re Born Matters Less Than You Think...
“Awe”some is good!
The BBC has decided to talk about awe, something applied psychologists have been fascinated with for years. David Robson, on January 2, 2022 (“Awe: The ‘Little Earthquake’ That Could Free Your Mind,” https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20220103-awe-the-little-earthquake-that-could-free-your-mind) talks...
Preferred Surface Colour Combos
Wondering how to paint your home? Don’t mix up the colours too much, group similar hues together. So for instance put hues of blue, or shades of green together. Serra, Gouaich, and Manav explored the...
The Value of not being too Unusual
Button reports that “Eye tracking methods and measurements were employed to empirically examine if attention can predict consumer judgements and behavioural outcomes. . . . Findings reveal the importance of the grille as a...
Want to make a good first impression?
We all like to be liked and want to make a good impression. Tooley “found that a space that is aesthetically satisfying and valued, contributes to the likeability of its occupants. . . ....
Starting Anew – Aargh! to Aahh!
People putting together plans for new homes pass through a set of predictable phases. The first is euphoria: “Wow, I’m going to have the opportunity to do something new, to create the sort of...
TIPI – Designing for your personality
Ever wondered how you align with your friends and family? One of the things that’s clearest about space design is that everyone feels better when their personality aligns with the place that they find...
Did you know that your home design can help you eat healthily?
We are writing this as we enter a new year, but you might also be preparing to design a new home, a new space or getting ready to move completely. Well, we have some...
Creating your new home office
For some this could be the most important space in the home now we are working remotely more as a result of Covid 19 and Lockdown. We have lots of tips on how to...
Creating places to mingle in your home
Places where people will have positive, pleasant conversations: Will allow everyone who wants to make eye contact at any time they feel like it. Parties require the sorts of everyone sits in a ring...
Carefully consider the Cart
This is an interesting one. Ever wondered why shopping trolley handles are the way they are? Ever wondered if they were designed differently how that would affect our spending habits? Well, Estes and Streicher...
Post Pandemic Homes
Neuroscience is clear about the sorts of homes where people will live their best future lives, particularly if future pandemics arise. In these spaces: There will likely be a sort of transition zone as...
Pantone’s Colour for 2022
Pantone has decided that the colour of the year 2022 is Very Peri, a warm periwinkle. This colour will challenge users in the year ahead: It’s pretty energizing to look at, so it’s not...
The Space in the Place!
As a gift for Christmas, The Space Doctors have written another poem for you in the style of Dr Seuss! We hope you enjoy it! If you would like your very own higher resolution PDF...
How to throw a great party!
THE ENVIRONMENTAL NEUROSCIENCE OF A GREAT PARTY (THE KIND OF TITLE THAT DEFINITELY DESTROYS THE FUN) ‘Tis the time of year for parties—and in many parts of the world, with the right disease fighting...
How to Encourage Conversation at a Party
Science makes it clear that there are some hard and fast rules about spaces where people have great conversations—you can apply them throughout your home, creating multiple conversation zones—even if you don’t have any...
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