The fourth floor reading room at Grand Valley State University’s (GVSU’s) Pew Library (Allendale, MI) is an important asset to GVSU’s campus. It is a place where people can think great thoughts and get work done. The room is a haven for stressed students, staff, and faculty, particularly those working on creative projects.
The space seems to generally be quiet. The users of this place have established social norms that discourage people from making sounds that disturb others. This means that there are few audio distractions and the variety of seating options allows people, except at high use times, to select seats that minimize their view of others, and that helps keep visual distractions relatively low. Many of the views through the space have moderate visual complexity, which, along with the minimized distractions, contributes to keeping user stress levels in check.
The area near the stone fireplace and the fireplace itself are visible to many users. This brings the benefits from use of natural materials to most people in the room, as does the use of wood with visible grain throughout the area. Looking at flames in the fireplace also helps people restock their cognitive energy levels after they’ve been depleted by focused thinking, i.e., concentrating on whatever brought them to the reading room in the first place. Looking out the floor-to-ceiling windows at nearby nature has the same effect.
The variety of seats in the room provides options for users. Options mean they have control over their in-room experiences (at least most of the time) and control has been shown to enhance the mental performance of individuals and groups. The one-person alcoves along the wall facing the fireplace seem particularly popular. They provide not only control but at least some privacy. The alcoves also, in the fine tradition of biophilic design, give people sitting in them a view into the room from a secure location (no sneaking up from behind on people in these seats)—this is known in the psych biz as “prospect and refuge” and having this sort of visual access/protection makes us very, very comfortable. That opens up our mind to thinking creative thoughts and better problem solving, for example.
Natural light floods the space, which does wonder for wellbeing—and that is particularly important as semesters end and exams begin.
Biophilic design, visual complexity, user control, natural light, and cognitive restoration (and many other topics) are discussed regularly in Research Design Connections. Click on each topic named in this paragraph to link to a related article.