Wood Furniture in Offices
Wood color, amount, and in-use effects
Wood color, amount, and in-use effects
How much alone time is too much?
Reworking the office with RIBA
Different times, different needs
Nurmi and Pakarinen’s work probes the effects of virtual sessions on our energy levels and mental performance. The researchers report that they “challenge the commonly held belief that virtual meeting fatigue manifests as exhaustion (i.e., active fatigue) resulting from overloading demands and instead suggest that participation in virtual meetings may lead to increased drowsiness (i.e., passive fatigue) due to underload of stimulation.
Hutson and Hutson investigated how biophilic design can support neurodiverse populations. They found that “With an estimated 15 – 20% of the global population considered neurodiverse, it is crucial to understand and accommodate their specific needs, such as those with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum condition, and learning disabilities. . . . biophilic design integrates natural elements and art into the built environment.
Research conducted by Bacevice and Larson confirms that people “read” environments that organizations use, looking for cues about their values, mission, and similar ‘positions.” The researchers report that “Organizations strategically invest in the aesthetics of their spaces to communicate about their values, mission, and position within an industry or community. Given the growth of mass visual culture and the circulation of images online, exposure to aestheticized workspaces is pervasive.
Workplace aesthetics matter to workers. Barton and Le report that they gathered data using “a survey that determined whether the workplace environment at one university in Queensland, Australia supports its workers’ job satisfaction and well-being. . . . Findings showed that there is a strong need for an aesthetically pleasing workplace and its positive impacts on employees. In addition, an aesthetically pleasing workplace was perceived to have a positive impact on the respondents’ likelihood of spending more time at work, hence, a greater sense of satisfaction. . . . .
Our society has been in a “reset period” for the last several years but human brains are still human brains, people are still people, and work is still work. What does neuroscience research say about the best workplaces for today’s users?
Required reading for people interested in humans at work