How to use Scent?
Now that you’ve considered what you’re hearing, it’s time to think about what you’re smelling as you try to decompress: Smelling lavender helps you relax (it also encourages you to be more trusting of...
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...
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....
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...
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...
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...
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...
Scents and Sounds in your Odd Space
You’ll need to breathe when you’re in your odd space and in the oddest of the odd spaces, that can be a challenge. The best of the odd spaces have windows in them or...
Gender and place experience
Men and women can experience spaces in slightly different ways from time to time: Women have a better sense of touch than men, in technical terms, they are more “tactically sensitive” than men. This...
Personality and musical taste
Greenberg and teammates report that they “built on theory and research in personality, cultural, and music psychology to map the terrain of preferences for Western music using data from 356,649 people across six continents....
Let music and scents be the food of love!
In many a boudoir scene on the silver screen, not only do candles predominate, but before the person to be romanced arrives, some scent is sprayed in the air and background music begins to...
Thinking about Smelling
The powerful effects of what we smell on how we live was discussed in a recent article in The New York Times—could it be that we’re about to enter “The Smell Age.” On January...
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...
Encouraging Good Behaviour
Do you have a house of unruly inhabitants? Or work with a bunch of messy sausages? Well, here at The Space Doctors are here to help! Design can encourage people to behave in ways...
Green Cities are Good for Kids
Binter and colleagues looked at how urban design affects child development. They share that they “investigated the association between early-life urban environment and cognitive and motor function in children. We used data from 5403...
Scent and Heat!
At this time of year we can become particularly attuned to the smells in our homes and offices, regularly because they’re not very good. If you actively manage the scents in your home and...
Refreshment time!
During the holidays, we often need to not only work at whatever our job is but also spend time catching up with family, friends, and colleagues, all of this can lead us desperate to...
Birdsong makes us happy
Ever wondered what soundtrack to play when you’re stressed? Turn on the birdsong. Ratcliffe confirms the value of nature soundtracks. Via a literature review she determined that “nature is broadly characterized by the sounds...
Invisible Differences
Some differences between people who will visit a space are invisible until they clearly are not so at all—until eyes start to water and noses get red, for example. You love Fluffy your cat...
Senses
Sometimes people to your home have some sort of “difference” that they’d rather not be publicly discussed (although today there are many fewer topics that fit into this category than in the past) but...
Pile on the Biophilic Experiences
Aristizabal and colleagues have found that more simultaneous biophilic experiences are better than fewer: when people in their study “were exposed to three biophilic design interventions (visual, auditory, and a combination (multisensory)) and a...
The Scents for Autumn
When we are inside our homes, we can improve our moods and the atmosphere by switching up the scents in our space. Smelling citrus-y smells inside is a plus. The sort of orange smell...
The Silence of a House in Autumn
When the weather finally gets so cold and nasty that you have to close your windows, it will become clear to you very quickly that your house is very quiet. With the windows closed,...
Fall and Food
One of the first questions that generally gets asked about design and eating is if colours on walls, plates, etc., can influence how much we eat. The answer: surface colours do indeed influence our...
Refresh your Home during the Fall season
Design can encourage us to be more active, even to workout. Design can help you transition from making excuses for avoiding working out to exercising with vigor and enthusiasm (at least some enthusiasm). As...
Airports are Going Biophilic!
A recent article in the New York Times (“The Trouble With Airports, and How to Fix Them,”) should brighten the day of anyone who has ever, or may ever need to spend time in airports....
Live in a Green Area, if you can
Atiken found that “People who live in green neighbourhoods are less likely to develop cardiovascular disease. . . . The researchers analysed the odds of developing any new cardiovascular disease, and the number of...
Memory!
Want to remember what you’ve learned? The research is very, very clear. When we return to the same place where we originally learned something, or even had a particular idea/inspiration, we’re more likely to...
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...
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