Feeling comfortable at airports – the credit card pod
Many airports across the United States are adding soothing refuges, applying some of the principles of neuroscience-informed biophilic design that we discuss in The Space Doctors’ articles. Christine Chung (2024, “Now Arriving at an...
Famous Furniture that’s mattered
Furniture regularly determines our mood in a space, with ramifications for our wellbeing, cognitive performance, as discussed in this article. In “The 25 Most Defining Pieces of Furniture from the Last 100 Years,” Nick...
What is the value of Greenspace to children’s development?
Using data collected from over 4 US states, Towe-Goodman and many colleagues link between living near green spaces (for instance, forests, parks, residential yards) and mental health. They report that “greater residential green space...
Speed at perceiving visual signals
In terms of speed of response to what we see, some of us have a clear advantage—which may explain why you’ve never excelled at sports. Haarlem and teammates determined that “some people have an...
Writing is worth it! (vs the keyboard…!)
Van der Weel and Van der Meer share that “Brain electrical activity was recorded in 36 university students as they were handwriting visually presented words using a digital pen and typewriting the words on...
Visual density and choices made by people who are suffering ill health
Yi and colleagues found “that consumers under disease threat are less willing to buy products presented in a dense display. This is because disease threat activates a high-density avoidance mindset, which is carried over...
At home and onsite creativity
Rucker and associates “conducted an experimental study with a German company whose employees usually work in an activity-based workspace consisting of open, closed and informal spaces that can be used by employees depending on...
Choosing a New Place… The LONG READ
Relocating, changing where you live can be a jarring experience. There are all sorts of practical things that you need to figure out when you move – like the fastest route to the market...
Packing and Un-packing…
When you are getting ready to move, what should you pack first, unpack first, not pack at all? When you are getting ready to move the thought of getting everything you own into boxes...
Fix-it-up Timeline… what should you tackle first and why…
Even if you move into a brand-new home, one that has never been lived in by anyone else, you’ll need to make some changes before your new house becomes your new home. The first...
Managing your new garden…
If your new home has a garden, you may be wondering what you should plant. The Space Doctors talked about designing gardens where you can relax and have great times in this article. and...
Building in Privacy
If you were at all happy in your old home you had privacy when you wanted it. To be happy in your new home your need to make sure that you do. Privacy is...
Language and Design Communication
Have you ever had the experience that you just seem to be unable to communicate with someone about design (or some other topic for that matter)? Your inability to communicate may be because they...
Sleep Tourism and Cocoons! Environmental Psych in the News
It seems a lot of us are having trouble sleeping in our homes (see this article for neuroscience research-based insights on creating a place where people sleep well). So many of us are sleep...
BBC’s Most Remarkable Homes
Dominic Lutyens has taken a look around our wide, wide world and identified the 8 homes he finds most remarkable, because of their design and earth friendly features (2024, BBC, “Eight of the World’s...
Future more Accessible Spaces
As Jordan Valinsky and Eva Rothenberg report in “Here’s What the Starbucks of the Future Looks Like” (2024, CNN,https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/17/food/starbucks-accessible-store-design/index.html ) Starbucks is making big changes, ones that should make their sites more pleasantly accessible...
Add Variety to be More Creative
Nagayama found that having multiple worksites can boost our creativity. Via a survey they probed “the relationship between MLW [multiple-locational work] . . . and worker outcomes, such as engagement, creativity, and well-being. ....
Consequences of Time in Nature
Joye and teammates report that they “tested the ‘nature-as-reward hypothesis’, which suggests that superior cognitive task performance following nature exposure reflects a general performance improvement, driven by the reward value of beautiful things. ....
Sensory Links
Rodriguez and colleagues evaluated ties between sounds smells and tastes. They used a literature review to determine that “Sweetness perception was reported to be associated with high pitch . . . piano timbre ....
Collaboration – in person vs online
Van der Wouden and Youn (as reported by Ayshford) studied “17 million scientific publications over the past 45 years find[ing] that researchers who collaborated locally were much more likely to gain new knowledge from...
Sound Masking and Mental Health
Bergefurt and teammates report that “To date, most studies on sound masking are short-term laboratory studies. . . . The current study aims to evaluate, using a longitudinal field study . . . at...
Sitting, Standing and Health
Nguyen and colleagues report that their “research evaluated the cost-effectiveness of three hypothetical SB interventions: behavioural (BI), environmental (EI) and multi-component intervention (MI). . . . The effectiveness of the modelled interventions in reducing...
Teenagers and Physical Spaces
Buttazzoni and Minaker studied teenager (age 9 to 17) and identified “several significant associations. Notably, spaces high in complexity (visual richness), imageability (distinctiveness), and enclosure (room-like quality) tended to support positive affect [mood]. Additionally,...
Time Perception, Time in Nature
Correia shares that “There is growing evidence that nature experiences can influence human sense of time by (i) extending human perception of temporal duration and (ii) shifting time perspectives. People who spend time in...
Mental Health and Nature Access
Makram and colleagues “found that neighborhoods with a NatureScore of 60+ [0–100; low to high nature levels] had lower overall mental health utilization than those below 40. . . . This relationship persisted for...
Bigger = Better
Spielmann and Rossi “Through four studies, including a field study, we examine the associative semantic schema deduced from wider (versus narrower) glassware rim and how the ‘bigger is better’ bias influences consumer purchase behavior...
Designing in Taste
Spence reports that “people intuitively match roundness with sweetness, while picking angular forms to represent the other four basic tastes. . . . Roundness is also associated with and tends to accentuate, creaminess. ....
Your Home’s “Face”
The façade of your home is the face that it presents to the world. Just like our own faces have a big effect on the instantaneous opinions formed of us as people, the front...
Front Door Colours
One of the home design decisions that people agonize over for longest is what colour to paint their front door. There are so many colours to choose from, and the choice seems so significant,...
Outdoor Views
As Spring moves forward across the Northern Hemisphere, you may be thinking of what to do with the landscapes surrounding your home. Neuroscience research has a lot of useful information related to this topic....
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