Workplace Environments

Advocates of full-spectrum fluorescent lights (FSFL) believe that these lights offer unique advantages over cool-white fluorescent lights (CWFL). Researchers Jennifer Veitch  and Shelly McColl have investigated these claims by reviewing research conducted from 1941–1999.

Marilyn Zelinsky provides a primer, dictionary, and case-history book on what has been variously called “new officing,” “alternative officing,” or “alternative work environments” (AWEs).

This booklet is a first step in distributing current research knowledge about office environments from BOSTI’s large client database.

Tove Fjeld  and his associates looked at how plants affected the health of office workers, while Larissa Larsen and her associates examined how indoor plants affected students in an office setting.

In recent years, employers have begun to offer “napping rooms” with couches or cots at their facilities or to allow employees to sleep at (or under) their desks. The number of these rooms in workplaces is expected to increase in the years ahead.

Open workplaces appear to increase beneficial and appropriately timed inter-employee communication. Becker and Sims found cubicle workspaces to be the least productive of today’s workplaces.

The Workplace Environment Network (WEN) of the Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA) sponsored a symposium at EDRA's annual meeting to establish the effect of office design on organizational performance.

The presence of complex vocal music, similar to the songs found in everyday settings and on popular radio stations, degrades performance of complex cognitive tasks as significantly as noise of the same volume.

A summary of current knowledge concerning the use of color in workplace environments.

HDR display technology is beginning to become available, and Veitch outlines why it will be an important design tool