Retrofitting Biophilic Design Elements into Office Site Sheds: Does ‘Going Green’ Enhance the Well-Being and Productivity of Workers?

The use of biophilic elements in industrial design has become more commonplace as the benefits of natural environments show stronger links to positive health benefits and mental well-being. This chapter discusses the rationale, process and results of a study which examined the effects and long term impacts of biophilic design for site office workers. The research investigated the impact of incorporating plants, natural sunlight, prospect, ventilation, open spaces and windows to an office environment through retrofitting the design of a site shed. To examine the impact on productivity, stress and general well-being, this longitudinal study spanning over 2 years tracked the concomitant cognitive, social, psychological and physical benefits for workers. Within the first 3 months, data indicated a strong positive effect from incorporating green space to amend stress, enhancing well-being, fostering a collaborative work environment and sustaining workplace productivity. Through the course of the study, data continued to support these findings by indicating a rise in engagement with the design components and repeated evidence of workplace collaboration. In exit interviews, transference of greening concepts and accessibility to transform the workspace was discussed

Designing Behaviours For Well-Being Spaces

Spaces and their views are changing. The perception of physical and mental well-being is also shifting, especially because of the pandemic. We are experiencing a transitional time where new needs and requirements emerge, affecting human behaviour and the space definition at macro and micro level. New dynamics and perceptions are recognized, leading architects and designers to focus on studying and applying innovative methods. The book explores the radical transformation of living and working spaces, in which the hybridization of interior and exterior requires a new vision able to interpreter renewed people’s behaviours and needs, a challenging issue for the design discipline that has a multidisciplinary nature as well as a multiscale approach for both research and practice. Many examples today demonstrate the importance of the therapeutic contribution of architecture and design, to redevelop places of hospitality and care, and create environments in which there is a deep harmony of space, light, and beauty. The interest in research concerning the quality of life has also increased a lot of studies on the complex question of the environmental perception and the importance of natural stimuli for health in interiors, in which the physiological effects of light and colour are fundamental to balance the of human beings’ equilibrium. In the book we present testimonies of international researchers and designers who propose disruptive scenarios and methodologies to improve wellbeing and mental health conditions overall life quality at urban and personal living level through several examples: the city and the relations with the environment, commercial and hospitality areas, personal spaces, as well as outer space, in microgravity and confined environment, where the astronauts’ experience living in confined environments can be compared to the domestic space and office interiors. Our ambition is to re-launch an aesthetic, sustainable, design-based approach to improve dwelling conditions, trying to implement care into different well-being dimensions – mental, physical, social, and global – looking at the new people’s behaviours, or even, generating new behaviours, through design

Flourishing the indoor environment quality of workplaces using the biophilic architectural design

This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University LondonThe central argument in this thesis is that workplace users’ health, well-being and productivity are affected by indoor environmental quality (IEQ) and that their overall satisfaction is related to the IEQ factors within the workplace. In addition, it is proposed that enhancing the indoor environment using Biophilic Design can positively influence occupants’ health, well-being and productivity in co-working offices and university research rooms. To test this argument, a methodology based on the Flourish Model was developed to collect interview data, discrete IEQ measurements and post-occupancy evaluation (POE) responses. This thesis is made up of three empirical parts. The first part evaluates occupants’ health, well-being and productivity in the Second Home co-working offices, which contain 30 multidiscipline companies. Data were collected through on-site observation and interviewing 10 HR members; these data were then analysed to determine how the implication of Biophilic Design patterns can help solve several IEQ issues and establish how these patterns are related to overall satisfaction and productivity. The results of this empirical part show two main points: first, the addition of plants as part of the Biophilic Architecture positively affected occupants’ health and well-being positively, and some of these plants controlled the thermal comfort, which includes the temperature and humidity as well as the air quality of the office environment; second, other Biophilic features were added to control noise levels in the space, while some of them were for aesthetic value. However, using some green features for atheistic value is not enough to reach the best environment quality and meet occupant expectations in the office environment. Finally, the implication of the Biophilic patterns is connected to the cost used in a project, starting from adding plants to significant changes in the whole building construction. The second empirical part of this study was conducted in five research rooms at Brunel University London in 2 old and 3 recently developed buildings by surveying the researchers twice and conducting a measurement test using Arduino sensors in five zones for 14 days. The most obvious finding to emerge from this study is that the II qualities of the five key aspects of IEQ, namely thermal comfort, indoor air quality, lighting environment, acoustic environment and office space layout, have significantly positive correlations with occupants’ productivity. Moreover, the participants assured that Biophilic Design offers many ways to improve their offices. Several suggestions have been presented for Biophilic solutions depending on the building age and issues raised. Finally, although some of the measured IEQ conditions were relatively good, with no significant fluctuation across the research rooms, it was noted that there is a difference between objective IEQ data and subjective occupant evaluations. The recently developed buildings which designed with fully double-glazed façades showed the highest overall health, well-being and productivity levels, whereas the old buildings constructed with small windows or with no access to the daylight had the lowest; they had lower window-to-wall ratios. The results support that the measurements do not express the absolute satisfaction of the occupants. Nevertheless, the findings were useful to be considered in the third imperial part. As the main research output, this project created a co-design toolkit that offers an opportunity for designers and architects to indicate their perspectives on improving open-plan workplaces. At the same time, this toolkit helps enhance the office environment by means of Biophilic Design and by bringing the natural environment indoors. This project is the first of its kind to develop a co-design toolkit for workplace design that can be used by designers, architects, students and even stakeholders to improve the design of workplaces in a way that positively affects their occupants. The toolkit was created in a co-design study in which the participants interactively discussed and shared their ideas as to the functionality and design of the toolkit. Then, using tow testing rounds with 6 and 15 designers and architects respectively. The researcher collated and modelled the results in the direction that they wished by using four types of cards: the activity guide, which is designed to explain the aim and the process of the toolkit to the user; the flourish cards, which created to evaluate the existing workplace situation and determine the main IEQ issues; the Biophilic cards, which present different solutions with different user budgets; and finally, the plant cards, which deliver a number of floor and desk plants with some tips that help the user to find the right location for using them.Mutah Universit

Designing Behaviours For Well-Being Spaces

Spaces and their views are changing. The perception of physical and mental well-being is also shifting, especially because of the pandemic. We are experiencing a transitional time where new needs and requirements emerge, affecting human behaviour and the space definition at macro and micro level. New dynamics and perceptions are recognized, leading architects and designers to focus on studying and applying innovative methods. The book explores the radical transformation of living and working spaces, in which the hybridization of interior and exterior requires a new vision able to interpreter renewed people’s behaviours and needs, a challenging issue for the design discipline that has a multidisciplinary nature as well as a multiscale approach for both research and practice. Many examples today demonstrate the importance of the therapeutic contribution of architecture and design, to redevelop places of hospitality and care, and create environments in which there is a deep harmony of space, light, and beauty. The interest in research concerning the quality of life has also increased a lot of studies on the complex question of the environmental perception and the importance of natural stimuli for health in interiors, in which the physiological effects of light and colour are fundamental to balance the of human beings’ equilibrium. In the book we present testimonies of international researchers and designers who propose disruptive scenarios and methodologies to improve wellbeing and mental health conditions overall life quality at urban and personal living level through several examples: the city and the relations with the environment, commercial and hospitality areas, personal spaces, as well as outer space, in microgravity and confined environment, where the astronauts’ experience living in confined environments can be compared to the domestic space and office interiors. Our ambition is to re-launch an aesthetic, sustainable, design-based approach to improve dwelling conditions, trying to implement care into different well-being dimensions – mental, physical, social, and global – looking at the new people’s behaviours, or even, generating new behaviours, through design

HUMAN-CENTRED THERAPEUTIC ENVIRONMENTS: A NEW FRAMEWORK FOR BIOPHILIC DESIGN

The emergence of biophilic design as a discipline refers to the innate human connection to nature and natural processes to promote health and well-being in the spaces we inhabit. The principles that define biophilic design can be examined from three different perspectives: as established in building regulations and standards, as used in design practice and as investigated in research practice. When examining each of these areas, we can find several issues and disconnections. In practice and regulatory frameworks, we can observe the use of an unbounded design framework that is not underpinned by scientific facts, do not prioritise principles or parameters, and even considers as a design intervention the use of disparate evocations of nature that do not hold a meaningful sustained connection. In scientific academic environments, there is abundant research on many of the different aspects of biophilic design, but all of this in-depth research providing scientific facts about the importance of nature on humans has happened separately or for a specific design parameter, and not in a holistic way. Current biophilic design frameworks fail to provide efficient guidance, as their design recommendations do not differentiate the level of value of each design parameter for each building programme and context. My position is that a biophilic design framework can only be efficient if it is adapted to specific building functions and is geographically and culturally contextualised. Likewise, the evolution of therapeutic architecture has mostly focused on managerial priorities (mass health working like a machine) and neglected the users' concerns. There is increasing research corroborating that the qualities of the setting in which a patient receives healthcare positively influence health outcomes. Therefore, it has become progressively important to review the concept of therapeutic environments, as places where users are supported in psychological, emotional and social terms. This quest for the optimal healing environment brings to the forefront the need to include other parameters in our design briefs, where the application of biophilic design proves to be paramount, as exposure to nature is associated with multiple health benefits. This study assessed the application of biophilic design in therapeutic environments in the UK and provided a revised conceptual framework that can more efficiently guide designers and policy in future interventions. This framework was informed by synthesised analyses from the user’s experiences, and the data obtained from semi-structured interviews with architects and managers, which was then benchmarked against scientific data about the impact of biophilic design on humans. This comprehensive approach helped to identify and rank those biophilic design parameters that appear the most critical for promoting and supporting health and wellbeing in healthcare settings and provided an up-to-date compilation of crucial design actions to enact the necessary change in future design practice

A Handbook of Theories on Designing Alignment Between People and the Office Environment

Although workplace design and management are gaining more and more attention from modern organizations, workplace research is still very fragmented and spread across multiple disciplines in academia. There are several books on the market related to workplaces, facility management (FM), and corporate real estate management (CREM) disciplines, but few open up a theoretical and practical discussion across multiple theories from different fields of studies. Therefore, workplace researchers are not aware of all the angles from which workplace management and effects of workplace design on employees has been or could be studied. A lot of knowledge is lost between disciplines, and sadly, many insights do not reach workplace managers in practice. Therefore, this new book series is started by associate professor Rianne Appel-Meulenbroek (Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands) and postdoc researcher Vitalija Danivska (Aalto University, Finland) as editors, published by Routledge. It is titled ‘Transdisciplinary Workplace Research and Management’ because it bundles important research insights from different disciplinary fields and shows its relevance for both academic workplace research and workplace management in practice. The books will address the complexity of the transdisciplinary angle necessary to solve ongoing workplace-related issues in practice, such as knowledge worker productivity, office use, and more strategic workplace management. In addition, the editors work towards further collaboration and integration of the necessary disciplines for further development of the workplace field in research and in practice. This book series is relevant for workplace experts both in academia and industry. This first book in the series focuses on the employee as a user of the work environment. The 21 theories discussed and applied to workplace design in this book address people’s ability to do their job and thrive in relation to the office workplace. Some focus more on explaining why people behave the way they do (the psychosocial environment), while others take the physical and/or digital workplace quality as a starting point to explain employee outcomes such as health, satisfaction, and performance. They all explain different aspects for achieving employee-workplace alignment (EWA) and thereby ensuring employee thriving. The final chapter describes a first step towards integrating these theories into an overall interdisciplinary framework for eventually developing a grand EWA theory. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781003128830, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license