Effects of implanted wood components on environmental restorative quality of indoor informal learning spaces in college

Abstract

The recovery needs of college students are growing. This study aimed to investigate the effects of implanted wood components in indoor informal learning spaces on restorative quality and the main mediators of the degree of wood configuration on restoration likelihood. Taking the library's leisure discussion area as the space carrier, students were recruited to experience virtual reality (VR) in ten kinds of spaces with different wood-component implantation schemes and conduct a restorative perceptual evaluation. First, the restorative perception of the space implanted with the wood structure and wood enclosure components was stronger than that of the space implanted only with wood enclosure components, especially when the wood rate exceeded 60%. The wood-component implantation scheme with the highest restorative score was as follows: the wood rate was in the range of 60–80%, with wood beams, wood columns, wood floor, wood roof, and wood walls being implanted simultaneously. Second, when the wood rate was below 80%, the restorative quality was substantially improved by increasing the wood rates and wood-application positions on the space surface. The restorative quality slowly decreased when the wood rate exceeded 80%. Finally, fascination, compatibility, naturalness, and preference mediated the effects of the degree of wood configuration on judgements of the restoration likelihood. Among them, the mediating effect generated through naturalness and preference was relatively large. Our research results provide wood-application guidance for the design and renewal of healthy indoor informal learning spaces in colleges, providing a reference for future research on the restoration of wood spaces.