Benefits from wood interior in a hospital room: a preference study

Abstract

New design strategies, focusing on implementing the psychologically beneficial effects of nature in the built environment, are increasingly being implemented in building design. The design of built settings is of particular importance in environments intended for healing, such as hospitals. Preferences for a setting are thought to be indicators of factors in the environment that can enhance health and well-being both for patients and those who care for them. The aim of this study is to investigate preferences for natural construction materials in patient rooms. An online survey was distributed to all employees in one department at a Norwegian hospital. Respondents (n = 93) included nurses and auxiliary nurses, physicians, and other hospital staff. In the survey, the employees were asked to evaluate 10 computer-manipulated pictures of patient rooms with different amounts and dispositions of wood on surfaces. The results indicate that employees prefer patient rooms with an intermediate degree of wood. The least liked room was the room with pine wood on all surfaces.

Wood or Laminate?—Psychological Research of Customer Expectations

“…Specifically, this means that the wooden floor was perceived as more natural, modern, and exclusive than the laminate floor. With this result we support recent research, where wooden products in general are attributed with an excellent quality [1,2].…”

“…The participants believed that the wooden floor was more likely to reduce stress, raise well-being and increase the quality of life than the laminate floor. Recent findings show that wooden materials in indoor settings have beneficial effects on humans [1,26,27].…”

“…Using wood for construction and interior design has a long tradition especially in countries like Austria, Canada, Estonia, Finland, Japan, Norway, Sweden and the US [1]. The main reasons for choosing wood in interior settings are aesthetics, a good atmosphere, healthy climate, hygienic factors and reducing the risk of allergies [2].…”

Gozd in les: 70 let

“…Eksperimentalne raziskave so mehanizme, opisane v teh teorijah, sprva preverjale v kontekstu zunanjih naravnih okolij, večje število nedavnih raziskav pa dokazuje, da je z vnašanjem narave v grajena okolja slednja moč narediti restorativna (npr. Nyrud, Bringslimark in Bysheim, 2014;Fell, 2010;Bringslimark, Hartig in Patil, 2011).…”

The effects of biophilic design in interior environments on noise perception: Designing a person-centered biophilic space for older adults

“…Natural material as one of the attributes of biophilic design has received very limited attention in academic research from a psychological perspective (Gillis & Gatersleben, 2015). Research by Nyrud, Bringslimark, and Bysheim (2014) focused on the effects of natural elements, particularly wood in a hospital environment. Their study indicates that use of a natural material, such as wood, influences user preference, and the preference for different rooms is due to room design and the amount of wood used in the interiors.…”