design research

To combat the obesity epidemic in the developed world, some architects are designing physical environments that encourage people to use stairs instead of elevators.

Workplace floorplans influence employee communication, which influences employee performance.

The reasons clients are visiting hotel spas are diversifying, complicating the jobs of spa designers. 

Researchers have found that dampness or mold in a home is associated with resident depression.

Evaluations of both tactile and visual information influence overall aesthetic assessments of attractiveness. 

Providing lighting to workers that they perceive as higher quality has a positive association with their workplace experience.

Seeing a musical performance influences the experience.

The Center for the Built Environment (CBE) recently completed a survey of 34,169 occupants of 215 buildings (90% in the US, 10% in Canada and Finland) that indicated that many individuals working in office buildings are unhappy with the thermal comfort or the air quality in these buildings.

Human beings do not accurately predict how they will feel emotionally after making a decision.

Ian Sinclair, a Canadian architect, uses material culled from his own professional experience and a review of the literature to make a number of suggestions for “designing environments that inspire nurses to perform at the top of their game.”