A Participatory Interior Design Approach for a Restorative Work Environment: A Research-Intervention

Exposure to environmental stressors has physical and psychological consequences. A demanding physical environment involves the allocation of additional attentional resources and an increase in psycho-physical stress. This study illustrates the process of a research-intervention aimed at designing a workplace, using a participatory design approach, and considering the beneficial effect of restorative environments in reducing stressful elements and improving well-being at work. Stressful situations occur daily, compromising proper functioning while causing the occurrence of physiological and/or psychological disorders. To be able to safeguard their psycho-physical well-being, people normally adopt coping strategies, i.e., remedies that allow them to cope and manage situations that generate stress. One of these strategies is the exposure to natural environments, which promotes recovery and sustains psycho-physical well-being. The restorative properties of natural environments have been scientifically proven. However, even built spaces can be thought of as restorative environments, in particular when certain conditions are granted. An applied science, known as biophilic design, provides useful indications from this perspective. This project involved 57 employees of the Italian site of an international non-governmental organization, in the transition from a site no longer adequate to a new site requiring renovation. In a first phase, a survey was conducted, to verify the perceived quality of the current workplace and to detect the unmet workers’ needs, and to assess some other important psychological constructs connected with perception of restorativeness and well-being. In a second phase, the findings emerged from the survey was analyzed in depth through a participatory interior design process, together with an interdisciplinary team of architects, technicians of the organization and environmental psychology researchers. The team, together with some representatives of employees, worked together through possible scenarios, adopting a biophilic design approach, to design the new workplace. At the end, the same survey of the first phase was conducted, to detect differences in perceived quality in the new workplace compared to the previous one

Environmental Psychology and Participatory Interior Design: a case study

The aim of the present research is the design of a workplace with an approach that reduces stressful elements and improves the restorative qualities of the environment itself through a participatory approach. The concept of restorative environment is linked to the notion of environmental stress. Stressful situations affect people working life, compromising proper functioning while causing the occurrence of physiological and/or psychological disorders. To be able to safeguard their psycho-physical wellbeing, employees learn coping strategies to face stress. One of these strategies is the exposure to natural environments which promotes recovery and sustains psycho-physical wellbeing. The restorative properties of natural environments have been proven scientifically. However, even built spaces can be thought of as restorative environments, in particular following the indications of an applied science known as biophilic design. This project, which is still ongoing, involved Amnesty International Italy employees (57 people) in the transition from a site no longer adequate for the needs of the organization to a new site to be renovated. In a first phase, a survey was conducted to assess the perceived quality of the current working environment to detect the unmet needs of the people who work there. What emerged from the survey was subsequently deepened through three focus groups. Afterwards a participatory interior design process started, including volunteers among the employees, architect and internal technicians supported by the researchers of the University of Verona. The team worked together through possible scenarios adopting biophilic design, designing the workplace for the new Amnesty International headquarters