Human Reponses to Biophilic Indoor Environment

Abstract

Biophilic design, which incorporates natural elements into the built environment, has received increasing attention in both design and health fields. Epidemiological and experimental studies have provided sufficient evidence that contact with outdoor nature has positive impacts on human health and wellbeing. However, the potential for similar health benefits in indoor biophilic environments remains unclear. We designed a randomized crossover study to examine the physiological and cognitive responses to biophilic indoor environments by using virtual reality (VR) and wearable bio-monitoring sensors. In this study, 28 participants spent time in an indoor environment featuring biophilic design elements and one without, with the order of the visit randomized. In each visit, they experienced the same environment for 5-minutes in reality and virtually by using VR. The indoor biophilic environment was associated with a decrease in participants's blood pressure. The overall differential effects for participants experiencing an indoor environment with biophilic elements versus none was 8.56 (95%CI: 5.60-11.52) mmHg lower systolic and 3.57 (95%CI: 0.36-6.78) mmHg lower diastolic blood pressure. In addition, their skin conductance decreased by 0.18 (95%CI: -0.004-0.36) µS and short-term memory improved by 14% (95%CI: 5.3%-23.2%). Moreover, our findings indicate that participants had similar physiological and cognitive benefits in the virtual environment and actual environment. The results indicate that biophilic environment may be benefitial in reduce stress in indoor settings. Additionally, the parity in results in virtual and real environments provides evidence that using VR can be an effective tool to simulate visual exposures when access to the real environment is not feasible.