People and Space

March 11, 20100 Comments Tagged: creativity, Environment, mood, psychology, science, space, study

I stumbled across an incredibly interesting article yesterday - How rooms and architecture affect mood and creativity. It contains an article from Scientific American Mind from about a year ago, along with some commentary from the website itself.

The article talks about a handful of scientific studies on the effects that the dimensions, layout and contents of a room have on the mood, behaviour, emotions and creativity of those within them. These are findings of great worth to institutions ranging from hospitals to schools to churches and religious organisations. Providing an environment that enhances a suitable mood and optimises people's headspaces for the tasks and events taking place.

Let's take a quick look at some of the findings (check out the full article for more details):

• Higher ceilings encourage abstract thought, while lower ceilings encourage detail oriented thinking
• Views of nature and greenery increase concentration and focus. This was seen in things like better academic results, and better behaviour amongst children with ADHD
• The body sensing light (in brightness, and particular waveforms) at the correct times of day, helps better regulate sleep/awakeness  and gives more energy.
• Bright light improves cognitive thought, but dimmer light encourages relaxation and openness.
• A room in which the contents have soft or rounded edges is more relaxing than one with similar items with hard or sharp edges.
• Carpet on the floors can increase social activity.

All of these discoveries are being made in the ever-growing field of environmental psychology. It is well worth keeping an eye on, and perhaps keeping in mind with your next project.