Home Design and Lockdown Depression
The bottom line of this research is that we need larger spaces and look out onto greenery, awe also need natural lighting, better acoustics, art, greenery and privacy… Design-depression links have been identified using data...
Office Curves and Creativity
As you know, every month we share Short Reports from recently discussed academic journals which you might like to delve into or drop into conversations on your next zoom meet! We love curves here...
Which Colours work best when working from home?
The first question that you probably have about spaces for work is what colour you should paint their walls. Science has answers to those questions. The colours that are best for surfaces, walls and...
Well Wood do you know? We all need Wood
Salvador, after completing a literature review, reports that “A literary review based study revealed wooden materials in interiors and objects to have a positive psychological influence in humans, with a pacifying and relaxing effect.” Salvador. 2019. “Human...
Clean Air for Boosting your Mind
Mullen and colleagues confirm how important it is to breathe clean air and their work supports efforts to make sure air inside buildings is filtered. The researchers report that “Fine particulate air pollution is harmful to...
Water Magic
Intentionally adding water to a space is a good idea, as long as that water stays where it belongs—rogue water from a broken pipe is a psychologically debilitating stressor. Looking at water that’s gently...
Plants a Plus
Adding a green leafy plant to any sort of space in which you find yourself is a good idea. Research has directly linked looking at green leafy plants to: Lower stress levels Mental refreshment...
Fractal Patterns have remarkable benefits…
Robles and colleagues make it official—natural fractals really are a visual plus! They determined that adults and children as young as 3 respond to these fractal patterns in the same way. The Robles, Taylor,...
Soundscapes and Sensitivity
Tarlao, Steffens, and Guastavino’s work verifies that many factors besides the actual noises themselves influence perceptions of acoustic experiences. The researchers report that “Previous soundscape research has shown a complex relationship between soundscapes, public space...
More Proof that Biological Diversity benefits us
Methorst and colleagues report that they “examine[d] the relationship between species diversity and human well-being at the continental scale, while controlling for other known drivers of well-being. We related socio-economic data from more than...
What’s the most important design element in working from home?
Mental and physical work can take multiple forms. Mental work is doing the book keeping for your business or some other “knowledge-“ type work or maybe even thinking creatively to solve some sort of...
What you wear can influence what you eat…
Wang and colleagues link clothing worn and food selections made, it may be possible to apply their findings more generally, but whether this sort of extension is reasonable will need to be directly investigated. ...
Restaurant Plants
Yildirim and colleagues found that people have a positive response to plants in restaurants and it is logical to extend their findings to other situations in which people may be eating. The researchers found...
How new homes should be designed post-Covid
The Place Alliance surveyed people in the United Kingdom during the COVID-19 pandemic (May, 2020) and after analyzing the data they collected online have reached some conclusions about how homes should be designed in...
How to prevent mental exhaustion and distraction when Working from home?
Whether you’re doing mental or physical work, the space you are in should come complete with lots of natural light. Natural light is good for our mood and that has benefits for how good...
Nature Sounds
Listening to nature sounds is relaxing and refreshing—and you can do it whenever you want, even if you live in the heart of the busiest city because nature soundtracks are readily available online. But...
Ventilate!
Natural light has an almost magical effect on how we think and behave. Whenever you can incorporate it into your home, without glare, the psychological payoffs are worth the effort involved. In your house...
Bake-Off a Winner!
Are you following The Great British Bake-Off? If you are, that’s great because Bake-Off’s sets are doing all sorts of good things from an environmental psych perspective. The Bake-Off happens in a tent, which...
The Science of Using Scents
Happily, for most of us, most of the time, are noses are doing their job and we can pick up odours in the world around us. Scientific studies consistently link particular smells to particular...
Temperature Tangos
Winter – This is temperature tango time, the months of the year when there are lots and lots of heated debates about where to set the thermostat. Science can end this discussion before it does...
Mirror, Mirror on the Wall…
Seeing oneself in a mirror makes it more likely we’ll follow the rules that our society has set for us, so they’re good options for places such as entry areas where properly stowing boots...
Boost Professional Performance
When you’re doing work that requires you concentrate, your brain, like a sports car, fires on all cylinders, relaxing colours, options that are not very saturated but relatively bright are best. Focused thinking is...
Biophilic Design Inspiration
What is Biophilic Design and why should we know about it? Biophilic design makes us feel comfortable and relaxed in a way that nothing else does because it recognises and respects the conditions that...
What is Environmental Psychology?
Since the first of our ancestors set up a home and cared about the experiences of people living there, there has been environmental psychology. Whenever people developing or managing spaces have cared about making...
80% of people prefer curves…
Creating a path? Work in a curve. D’Acci, collecting info on urban streets, found that “80% of a . . . random sample of 102 people stated to prefer, ceteris paribus [other things being equal]...
How woodland sounds enhance wellbeing
Hearing nature sounds is relaxing, very relaxing. A press release from the United Kingdom’s National Trust reports, “The crunch of snapping twigs underfoot. Lilting birdsong from above. The rustling of trees in the breeze....
Lighting conditions that give you more self-control
Do you spend too much, eat too much, or do anything too much? You might be interested to know that you have more self control in certain sorts of light than in others. This...
Seating to stimulate conversation
We can sit in all sorts of angles to each other, from nose-to-noise to ear-to-ear. Fiorillo and associates determined that “Experiments in which participants were asked to talk to each other while sitting at...
Biophilic design is growing!
Biophilic design uses the same design principles indoors that we’d find in an outdoor space where we feel very comfortable. In a workplace design study utilising biophilic design elements such as plants, water (a...
Create harmony in your home with colour
Using some colours together creates more harmonious or pleasing combinations than others.Among combinations that are more desirable are:The same or similar huesThe same or similar saturation levelsEach relatively light or differ only in lightnessLess...
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